Nate Masternak

Nathan A. Masternak was born in Royal Oak Michigan on November 14th, 1984. His family moved shortly after he was born to Toledo Ohio where he was raised. Nate and his younger brother were home educated students during their youth, and attended many different art classes all around the Toledo area, including the Toledo Museum of Art. It was at the TMA that Masternak took his first oil painting classes at the age of 14 after drawing for most of his younger days. He was employed by the Toledo Arts Commission’s Young Artists at Work program as a painter for six weeks during the summers of 2001 and 2002. From that point on Nate proceeded to develop a clever and contemporary style of painting using mostly canvas and wood as surfaces. In 2003 Nate and his best friend Ben Miller Rios began painting their own murals all over Toledo such as the murals on the Cherry Street Mission and The Sofia Quintero Center. They have also completed roughly 6 different in-door and out-door murals. Nathan has rented an art studio in the Secor Building in downtown Toledo since the year 2006. He has sold numerous paintings from that period and has endeavored to expand and advance. Nathan is mostly inspired by artists he has known such as: Salvatore Schiciano, Ben Miller Rios, Kerry Krow, Terry Burton, Wade Harrison, Ani Copti, Yusuf Lateef, Ronald Gosses, Phil Hazard, Richard Reed, Taylor Jaskolski, Jason Vahle, Chris Curran, Lauren Pfund, Jake Lee and many more local talents. He is also inspired by Robert Rauschenberg, Jean Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Joan Miro and Jasper Johns. He is a great admirer of music and is extremely diverse in the many genres of the music and art he enjoys and grows from.