R. Kenton Nelson

R. Kenton Nelson (born 1954) is an American painter and contemporary artist from California.

Biography Early life R. Kenton Nelson, now known as Kenton Nelson, was born in 1954 in Pasadena, California. His great-uncle, whom he was named after, was Roberto Montenegro, a Mexican muralist who was friends with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo (who married in his garden). His father worked at General Motors and his mother was a housewife. then at the Castle Green, and finally in West Pasadena near the Arroyo. Now, he resides in San Clemente, CA, with his family, enjoying the sea breeze and sunny weather.

His early influences include the photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American advertisements from the 1950s, Fred Astaire and Alfred Hitchcock, as well as the writings of John Cheever, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Carver. Additionally, his paintings were featured in the 2003 Nancy Meyers film, Something's Gotta Give. In 2005, he published a two-volume art book set called Rhyme and Reason, Prose and Cons. Moreover, as part of the Beverly Hills Centennial Arts of Palm Installation, he installed a temporary glass mosaic on a wall of the Palm Court of the Beverly Hills Civic Center between Crescent Drive and Rexford Drive in Beverly Hills, California.

Personal life After leaving Pasadena in 2021, Nelson now resides in San Clemente, California.

Books

Picturing a Perfect World: Paintings by R. Kenton Nelson. Published 1998. Rhyme and Reason, Prose and Cons, Paintings by R. Kenton Nelson. Published 2005 by Pasadena Museum of California Art, Reynolds Gallery at Westmont College, and Morton Court Publishing. Kenton Nelson, Present Tense. Published 2008 by Peter Mendenhall Gallery and Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska. Californian Idealism: Paintings by Kenton Nelson. Published 2015 by Bakersfield Museum of Art and Morton Court Publishing. Water: Californian Idealism by Kenton Nelson. Published 2019 by Prospect Park Books. Kenton Nelson: Thirty Swimming Pools. Published 2021 by Peter Mendenhall Gallery.