Painter juxtaposes icons with imagination in Simi studio

'A GREAT CONCEPT'-Nelson De La Nuez creates in his Simi Valley art studio, where he has worked the last five years. His pieces are sold all over the globe and line the walls of the houses of many well-known figures in the entertainment industry. Like many baby boomers, Nelson De La Nuez spent much of his young life plopped down on various living room carpets, mesmerized by the only recently discovered magic of color TV.

But while most grade-school students were watching shows like "Batman," "Deputy Dawg," and "Huckleberry Hound" simply for sheer entertainment, De La Nuez was watching them intently, studying the characters, faces, symbols and signs that flashed across the screen.

Today, De La Nuez, 47, uses those vivid childhood memories to create a brand of modern art that is all his own. A painter who lives and works in Simi Valley, De La Nuez has found both personal satisfaction and commercial success by bringing together the icons that jumpstart the human brain, often, in the most peculiar of ways.

"I started with a love for film and art and I put them together," De La Nuez said. "I created a movie studio in my head where I was the director, the producer, the casting director and the editor, and I could bring together any characters I wanted.

"Everything and everyone is up for grabs," he added.

Rebel Art

De La Nuez was born in Havana in 1959, the first year the country came under the control of Fidel Castro. His father, he said, was thrown in jail twice for opposing the Communist regime.

At age 6, De La Nuez escaped Cuba aboard a plane and was accepted into America with the rest of his family only because they had an uncle living in Oceanside, Calif. He eventually wound up in Glendale, where he spent his formative years and attended Hoover High School.

His rebellious side came out early.

"I respected my parents, but I never bought into anything they or my teachers were telling me. I think I had the record at Hoover for being kicked out of the library the most times- they even had my picture up," he said. "I was always the guy that if you dared somebody to do something I'd be the first in line."

After finishing high school, De La Nuez attended college for a short time, learning a great deal about his two favorite subjects: science and art. Though he doodled from time to time and always juggled ideas around in his head, he still didn't think art was anything he could do for a living.

"I was still trying to find myself," said De La Nuez, who worked at numerous jobs before beginning his painting careerincluding selling real estate, mutual funds and insurance titles"But I always knew the 9-to-5 world wasn't for me."

One night, after a particularly long day at work, De La Nuez made the decision to quit his job, sell most of his possessions and put all of the $6,000 he had in the bank toward a career in art.

"It was like driving to Vegas and putting everything you have on red-I was either going to lose, or win, big," he said.

Working seven days a week, 14 hours a day in his two-car garage, De La Nuez spent the next six months in virtual solitary confinement, creating 18 pieces of original art. He then hit the road to see what kind of money he could make, full of confidence that he had "stumbled on a great concept."

"From the very beginning, I knew I had something," he said. He was right.

Artist to the stars

In matter of two years, De La Nuez said, he was making as much as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Today, one piece of De La Nuez's artwork can fetch as much as $5,000 or more. Some of his biggest clients are celebrities, including such recognizable names as Jay Leno, John Travolta, Carrie Fisher, Rosie O'Donnell, Paris Hilton, Burt Reynolds and the late John Ritter.

His wife and manager, former model/actress Stacy Bell, actually met De La Nuez while in the process of buying one of his pieces.

"I was one of his first clients," said Bell. The couple married in 2000.

His first series of paintings went under the heading, "Art Juxtaposed," and featured famous figures, both real and fictitious, placed together in unusual situations. In those pictures, De La Nuez's wide knowledge of history, particularly art history, is apparent.

"I create stuff people can recognize, but I do it in a weird, fun way that people haven't seen before," De La Nuez said. "What sets me apart is my imagination."

The comedic kick is delivered by De La Nuez's witty titles, which often take advantage of a pun or a play on words.

"It's like a comedian's punch line," he said. "You can't get the joke until you read the title."

Some of his more famous pieces include "Sunday in the Park with Trailer Trash, "The Last Happy Meal," and "Ditching Dorothy," a painting that shows the tin man, lion and scarecrow leaving their female companion behind.

His signature piece is titled "Promiseland," in which Jesus Christ points the way to Las Vegas. Though De La Nuez's work is sometimes edgy and controversial, it almost always elicits laughs.

"For me, it's about asking 'What if?' Like, 'What if Van Gogh went to Disneyland today?' Well, I figured he'd probably put the Mickey Mouse ears on and remove one of the ears," he said, eluding to his painting "Van Goghs to Disneyland."

Why Simi?

One might think an eccentric artist like De La Nuez would have a studio in Venice Beach or West Hollywood, but not so. Since 2000, Bell and De La Nuez have lived in Simi, a place the artist said allows him to focus on his art without distraction.

"What I liked was that it was a very tranquil place, a small town with no distractions," the painter said. "It allows me the environment I need to hone my craft. It's just ideal."

A very focused individual with a specific creative routine, it's not unusual for De La Nuez to spend sundown to sunup in his inconspicuous Simi studio working on a single idea. He'll darken the

room, light a candle and turn on music from his childhood, bands like the Beach Boys and The Beatles, he said.

"It takes me back to a place where I'm almost a child again," De La Nuez said. "It's like a higher state of consciousness."

What the future holds

Some of the artist's work from a collection he is calling "POP Toons" is now on display at the Cartoon Network studios in Burbank.

He has also begun working on a project dedicated to the nostalgia of the 20th century, the Pop Americana series.

"I wanted to reflect on the 20th century and all these icons we grew up with," he said. "It was truly a magical century that kicked off so many great things. In the future, I think people will look at the 20th century like they look at the Renaissance."

Visits to De La Nuez's studio are by appointment only. Call (800) 270-9500 for information.

De La Nuez's art can be viewed online at delanuez.com and popcultureart.com.