Nathan Naetzker said, "The only thing worse than being a painter, is being a poet." This was his off the cuff response to the lifestyle of his past. "I've spent a lot of time in places from San Francisco to Brooklyn where I was forced to wash my dishes in the tub. Dirty places where security and was an issue and doors and windows didn't meet."
Not so now. "I feel like I died and went to heaven," Naetzker says of his new apartment in Artspace, the year-old, Midtown Buffalo artist's residence that consists of 36 units in the Breitweiser Building at 1219 Main Street, as well as 24 new builds behind it. With nearly 30 projects either completed or underway nationally, Artspace has become America's leading nonprofit real estate developer for the arts.
Naetzker, who paints in a variety of styles from abstract to realist, said that when he first saw Artspace he was awestruck and didn't feel worthy. "It's crazy how nice it is. It's like a five-star resort compared to places I've lived in and seen. I don't have to make do at Artspace. It's clean, new and inspiring to live in a community of artists. It's vital," Naetzker said.
"Suffering for your art is an urban legend," Naetzker said. "There is a theory of art that states that if you want to make art that's beautiful and graceful you should live in those surroundings. If architecture can shape people's lives, Artspace can make the life of an artist easier."
As for the concept of a group of artists living and working together, an experience that may not persist after an artist is trained in a college setting, Naetzker stated, "As a painter, I spend a lot of time alone. Painting is a solitary task, and I need privacy to do my work. It's nice to walk outside my door and find someone doing similar work. Behind each door there's someone else doing the same type of work. It's comforting. And when we want to we can come together as a community of like-minded people—part of a collaborative. We're not so isolated."
Artspace residents will display a collective exhibit, in which works will be on view until June 14. Naetzker, who just sold a portrait (see his work here) to a woman in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, is participating in the exhibit along with his fellow residents. He has begun a series of iceberg paintings, one of which recently sold "off the wall".
"This is such a positive thing for downtown," Naetzker said, adding that he'd never heard of the national Artspace project before he had the opportunity to apply for space in the Buffalo location.
The Rottweiler Naetzker keeps is a companion, in contrast to its predecessor, a fighting dog he picked up on the streets of Brooklyn as a bodyguard. Not feeling the least bit of threat in his new neighborhood, Naetzker marvels that his basic needs are within walking distance of his loft. "A city is only as good as its people, and Buffalo is the best city on earth," he said.
As for his loft, "I have a one-year lease. I'm never leaving."