A Blast from the Past

When I was fresh out of college, I worked as a personal assistant for R. Kenton Nelson, a commercial illustrator. He designed promotional materials for the Century City mall, and illustrated menus for El Torito, among many other things. It was a fun job. His studio was in the old Helms Bakery building in Culver City and lots of other artists and designers had studios there.

So now, twenty years later, he doesn't do commercial art anymore. He creates fine art shown in galleries, even in Austria! I adore his work and am planning a trip to see his exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. If you met him, you'd see that he himself is like a blast from the past. He dresses (or at least he used to) like a man from the forties. Think Gene Kelly slick and sophisticated. His art reflects that same nostalgic feel. He also used to say stuff like, "Golly!" which I found to be really endearing.