Nicholas Frederick: Rain Delay

Artist Statement

This work is an attempt to distill the feeling of a summer rainstorm in Louisiana, a subject that has occupied me for many years. The way the heat gives way suddenly to a chilled, urgent breeze that seems to skim the ground, rolling in with the thunder, an electric expectancy in the air. The compression of space and perspective into a featureless purple plane in the heart of the storm, the rain on the edges catching the sunlight in a shimmering, nearly holographic curtain. The smell of the overheated asphalt as cold raindrops sizzle into steam, then coalesce into a freshet rushing to the Gulf. The chill, the torrent, the cathartic release. Everything washed clean.