Formerly a successful architect, Nelson credits “gestalt,” a principle used in architecture with the birth of his signature style. The artist uses the theory to show -- but not tell -- intriguing tales of the New West. Consider his painting Cowboy Romance. We see a cowgirl and rugged cowboy holding delicate flowers in his well-worn gloves and he’s humbled to the point of kneeling down. The direction the story takes -- whether the cowgirl will accept his proposal or ride off into the sunset alone -- that’s up to the viewer.

Another reason Boren’s art has been hard to miss is that perhaps no other artist combines so much detail with such big, bold graphic images as big as the Montana sky -- well, almost!

Boren himself attributes his unique viewpoint with a lifelong love of both art and math. His mother was also a painter who in the “psychedelic 60,” only allowed him to hang posters in his bedroom that he had painted himself. Perhaps looking for order in a world that was increasingly turbulent, Boren pursued a degree in architecture at Arizona State University, which left very few electives. The first one he chose was a watercolor course.

Increasingly disillusioned with the demands of owning an architectural firm after fifteen years of hard-won success, he and his wife decided to move their family to Northwest Idaho to seek a more peaceful life and to pursue his dream of painting full time. Soon after, major galleries were asking to represent his paintings. Today, Nelson's work is in collections in the Whitney Museum of Western Art as well as galleries at the Coca-Cola Company and the Dallas Cowboys football team headquarters.

Northern Idaho

Published by
The Greenwich Workshop
since 1999

Preferred medium: watercolor

Cowboy Romance

“Long ago I found a photograph of a cowboy who was visible only from his shoulders to his knees. I wondered where he was going. The image invited a story and I thought, ‘that’s gestalt’ -- when you have an incomplete image and your mind consciously or unconsciously completes it.”

Western