Nall had originally planned to install his giant magnolia near the Japanese Garden in Monte-Carlo. The artist, inspired by Japanese wash drawings and Salvador Dali, married the delicate fragility of the Asian flower with the surrealism of monumentality. The work is on display to the public, passers-...
Nall had originally planned to install his giant magnolia near the Japanese Garden in Monte-Carlo. The artist, inspired by Japanese wash drawings and Salvador Dali, married the delicate fragility of the Asian flower with the surrealism of monumentality. The work is on display to the public, passers-by and tourists, and its urban setting enables it to express it full power and meaning. The sculpture was officially unveiled in 2014 in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II and the artist. Erected in memory of the Monegasque art collector Michel Pastor who died the same year, the monument is a thank you from the artist to his patrons. The sculpture was a gift from Nall to the Principality of Monaco.
Fred Nall Hollis, or Nall, is an American painter, portrait artist, engraver, sculptor and mosaicist, who was born in Troy, Alabama, in 1948. He started drawing as a child, then studied art, political science and psychology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In 1971, he was accepted into the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris with the top entrance score. His mentor, Salvador Dali, advised him as follows: “Draw from life, draw, again and again...” Inspired by the art of the Huichol Native American people, American psychedelic art, fauvism, impressionism and Japanese wash drawing, he produces primarily black and white drawings. Nall’s art reflects his environment. A keen traveller, he is inspired by Arab and Byzantine architecture, the geometric shapes of Alabama quilts, and the geometric compositions of Mondrian. Nall moved to Nice in 1976. He purchased Jean Dubuffet’s studio in Vence in 1986, then the Karolyi Foundation, which was renamed the Nall Art Association in 1996, where many artists came to stay. Since the turn of the millennium, the artist has created numerous works in the Principality of Monaco. At the request of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Nall produced an illustration for the 51st Monaco Red Cross Ball in 2000. He created two monumental mosaics, Sunrise & Sunset Pensée (each measuring 5 m x 5 m) to decorate the Grimaldi Forum in 2003, as well as the works Peace Frame and Violata Pax colombe as part of the Violata Pax project in 2006. His works are held in significant permanent collections in France, the United States and Italy. Nall currently lives in Fairhope, Alabama, where he teaches students.
