Nick Savides

Rushmore, Oil Painting

2025

Artist Comments
The painting draws inspiration from a corner of Chelsea featuring the Empire Diner and Eduardo Kobra's mural, "Mount Rushmore of Art." Partially hidden by trees, the mural celebrates iconic artists such as Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It blends urban architecture with cultural homage. The sky's blue extends into the mural's background and continues down to a figure below. Greys move through the ducts, the figures walking and the crosswalks, establishing continuity.

About the Artist
Artist Nick Savides learned to paint from his mother when he was a child, but it wasn’t until college that he decided to be a career artist. His realist images of New York City are inspired by the drama of the metropolis–the changing light, the spontaneous magic. Nick begins his process with reference photographs from his daily life, often shooting the same scene at multiple times of the day. He brings the images back to his Brooklyn studio, where he composes a scene in Photoshop, adding and subtracting elements from multiple photographs to achieve the perfect composition before beginning to paint. “As my artwork is realistic, one might be tempted to think they are copies from nature,” says Nick. “Really, they are composed–every detail is considered. It is a balance between what is seen, what is true to nature, and what can make a good painting.”

Words that describe this painting: urban, Rushmore, NYC, New York, cityscape, Hopperesque, Hopper, mural, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, restaurant, cafe, sidewalk, facade, building, portrait, script, umbrella, architecture, travel, realism, oil painting, blue

Rushmore
Nick Savides
Oil painting on stretched linen
Finished white edges
Ready to hang
One-of-a-kind
Signed on front
2025
36 in. h x 24 in. w x 1.25 in. d
5 lbs. 0 oz.