Erica
Nordean

Erica Nordean is a Pacific Northwest painter whose primary subject is the horse — specifically, the racehorse in motion. She came to that subject honestly: she began working with racehorses at eighteen, first at Longacres and then at Emerald Downs, where she was a fixture on the backstretch before she made her way to the studio. The intimacy that came from that time shows in the paintings. Her horses are not portraits of animals at rest; they are animals caught in the instant of velocity, their weight and direction still negotiable.

What distinguishes Nordean from the long tradition of equestrian art is the abstraction underneath the image. The critic Jay Hovedy, writing in the Daily Racing Form, put it directly: “In a world of literal-minded racing painters and patrons, Erica Nordean is one who dares to flirt with the abstract. Her horses are unmistakably horses, but they have a vibrant, native feel.” That native quality is Pacific Northwest — the light is different here, and so is the ground.

She trained at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, studying across a variety of styles. Her work has since expanded well beyond the track: landscapes, figurative paintings, abstracts, and commission work are all part of her practice. Her paintings hang in galleries from Seattle to Saratoga Springs. In California she has shown at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar, and Bay Meadows; she was the featured program artist at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in 2010 and holds a Best in Show from the Emerald Downs Equine Art Show. Her long-term East Coast gallery partner is South Hill Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky.