NOLAN SMOCK
nolansmock [at] gmail [dot] com
cv · bio
“Nolan Smock is the best documentarian of Research Triangle Park since David Byrne— really wild body of work“ - Max Huffman, DOGTANGLE (Fantagraphics Books)
is an artist living in Raleigh, NC. He is currently pursuing his Interdisciplinary Arts Bachelor’s degree at William Peace University.
Nolan first made photos in the early 2000s with a one-megapixel digital camera while attending high school outside Dallas, TX. He recieved an Associates in Fine Art Photography at Johnston Community College, then drove to Minneapolis, MN for a summer internship with Alec Soth in 2007. Shortly afterward, Nolan put down the camera and focused on music for a decade instead, running record stores and performing and recording music. In 2017, as a part of therapy, Nolan began making pictures again and has since incorporated them into a larger multimedia practice that looks at digital and physical landscapes with humor, curiosity, sensitivity, and criticism.
Nolan’s photos have been widely circulated online and on social media but he prints his work often and his photographs have hung in galleries, DIY spaces, and in the homes of collectors and patrons.
Nolan sometimes makes books and zines of his photo projects. He also collaborates with musicians and record labels on album art, usually by licensing existing photographs.
Nolan also makes music himself. His current project is Tracy Swamp. Previously: Real Dad, Google Dolls, Desert Secretary, The Charming Youngsters
Outside his personal work, Nolan facilitates arts events and workshops and has been consulted by individuals and organizations looking to incorporate the arts or work with them. This community work emphasizes inclusive, accessible, practical, and theraputic approaches. Art as process, not product.
Projects on this website aren’t featured in their entirety and portrait work is generally done through private commission. Larger portfolios for any of these can be provided upon request, however. Please reach out if you have any questions.
MODEL BIO?
Nolan Smock (b. 1984) is an artist working at the intersection of photography, music, and community practice. His work uses dark humor, structural repetition, and deadpan observation to examine the digital and physical landscapes of the American South—most recently, the infrastructural strangeness of Research Triangle Park. Smock’s photographs have been exhibited at spaces including Aviary Gallery (Boston), Mystic Alley (Raleigh), and the Arts Council of Wayne County, and circulated widely online. In 2007, he interned with photographer Alec Soth before stepping away from the medium for a decade to pursue music and arts organizing. Since returning to photography in 2017, Smock has produced zines, commissions, and collaborative album art for clients including Atlantic Records, VSCO, and Bandcamp. He has presented workshops and talks at institutions such as the North Carolina Museum of Art and currently facilitates inclusive, process-based community arts programming. Smock is completing his B.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts at William Peace University and holds an A.F.A. in Photography from Johnston Community College. He lives in Raleigh, NC, and records music under the name Tracy Swamp.
SHORT BIO:
Nolan Smock (b.1994) is a North Carolina-based photographer. His work stems from a desire to make sense of his physical surroundings, and mixes intuitive and research based-approaches.
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