Reindeer #9 by Brad Nack

Artist Brad Nack has been painting abstract reindeer portraits since 1996 and each year he has a big “one night show” that brings the new herd together. This year the exhibit will be at Roy (7 W. Carrillo St.) and there will be about 50 new pieces. These elegantly framed small oil paintings of reindeer will be on display and for sale from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, December 5, which also happens to be 1st Thursday!

Now in its 16th year, the Brad Nack 100% Reindeer Art Show has become an unofficial Santa Barbara holiday tradition, often with all the work being sold on opening night. The paintings have been simultaneously described as fun and upbeat but also as pensive and morose.

“That’s what makes them special,” says Nack “each reindeer has it’s own emotion and then each person responds differently.” Nack continues, “I have yet to get tried of painting these reindeer, I always get drawn back into investigating where this series is going.”

Nack is a Santa Barbara based artist who also was manager of the band Toad The Wet Sprocket and is currently art curator at MichaelKate Interiors & Art Gallery.

—Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS on December 2, 2103.