George Nackos moved to Utah from his original home in Oakland, California. Nackos is a nature photographer and filmmaker that uses specialized techniques to develop his pieces. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

George moved to Utah to attend college. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a Master of Science degree in public administration. Friends introduced George to the red desert vistas of southern Utah. Falling in love with the desert, he decided to stay in Salt Lake and spend as much time as he could camping and exploring with his eyes and his camera.

He has won awards with his short films. George has exhibited extensively in the Salt Lake area with shows at the Alpine Art Gallery and Soho Art Gallery. He has won many awards with his photographic work.

Biography adapted from material supplied by the artist.

After graduating from high school in Oakland, California, George moved to Utah to attend college. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a Master of Science degree in public administration. Friends introduced George to the red desert vistas of southern Utah. Falling in love with the desert, he decided to stay in Salt Lake and spend as much time as he could camping and exploring with his eyes and his camera. George has experimented with a variety of media and processes including air brush painting and film making. He has won awards with his short films. Taking several photography classes at the Utah Art Center, he realized the possibilities inherent in black and white film and the other tools that were made available to him. He became fascinated by the different ways photographic images could be manipulated. The photographic process has evolved into a flexible art medium that George uses to create his pieces. George has exhibited extensively in the Salt Lake area with shows at the Alpine Art Gallery and Soho Art Gallery. He has won many awards with his photographic work.

Artist Statement

“While Technique and formal presentation are critical elements there is great potential for creativity and discovery in photography. My preference is to explore and record conventional and unconventional ideas with the camera and then experiment with the resulting images. I manipulate photographic negatives and prints to press perception just enough to shift the experience of the perceiver. My intent is to provide a new insight out the ordinary, to invite the viewer to dip into their own creative imagination, to slip outside the familiar and learned syntax of perception.

I began my explorative process six years ago by experimenting with multiple prints of a single photograph. I discovered that by combining multiples of the same photograph (including reverse image prints) I could transform conventional images into new visions. I elaborated on this process by experimenting with other ways of printing and presenting photographic images. Since then I have focused on techniques such as “sandwiching“ negatives together to create a single image, printing negative images as positives, and mirror-image montage of prints. While there is limitless potential in these techniques I am interested in expanding my work by exploring and incorporating other ways of manipulating prints and negatives. My intent is to continue to explore how photographic images can be manipulated to create art that elicits experience beyond the primary photographically recorded image. “

-George Nackos

Juried Exhibition History

• 2005 - Bountiful/Davis Art Center, Statewide Competition & Exhibition (Bountiful, UT), group show
• 2004 - Museum of Contemporary Art, Rocky Mountain Biennial 2004 (Fort Collins, CO.), group show
• 2003 - Utah Arts Council, (Orem, UT.), group show, traveling exhibit and cash award
• 2003 - Rose Wagner Center for the Arts, (S.L.C., UT.), two person show
• 2003 - Bountiful/Davis Art Center, (Bountiful, UT.), group show
• 2003 - Springville Museum of Art, 2003 Spring Salon (Springville, UT.), group show
• 2003 - Bountiful/Davis Art Center, Statewide Competition & Exhibition (Bountiful, UT.), group show
• 2003 - Eccles Community Art Center, 13th Photographic Statewide Competition (Ogden, UT.), group show
• 2002 - Sweet Library, Inside & Outside the Box--Playing with Photography (S.L.C., UT.), solo show
• 2002 - Museum of Contemporary Art, Rocky Mountain Biennial 2002 (Fort Collins, CO.), group show
• 2002 - Eccles Community Art Center, 8th Black & White Competition (Ogden, UT.), group show
• 2002 - Bountiful/Davis Art Center, The Nature of Abstraction (Bountiful, UT.), group show
• 2001 - Berkley Art Center Association, 18th Annual National Juried Exhibition (Berkley, CA.), group show
• 2001 - Eccles Community Art Center, 2001 Statewide Photographic Competition (Ogden, UT.), group show, Best of Show/Juror's Purchase Award

Gallery Exhibition History

• 2002 - Mestizo Gallery, (S.L.C., UT.), group show.
• 2001 - Alpine Art Gallery, (S.L.C., UT.), three-person show.
• 2000 - Soho Art Gallery, (S.L.C., UT.), two-person show.
• 1999 - Alpine Art Gallery, (S.L.C., UT.), two-person show.

Traveling Exhibition History

• 2003 - Utah Arts Council
• 2002 - Bountiful Davis Arts Center

Biography courtesy of the artist.

Newspaper Articles

"Art Canvass." The Deseret News, April 11, 2004.

"Coming Up: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, December 30, 2001.

"Coming Up: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, June 25, 2000.

"Coming Up: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, October 10, 1999.

"Marquee Player." The Salt Lake Tribune, October 19, 2003.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, May 23, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, September 14, 2003.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, January 6, 2002.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, November 11, 2001.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, June 25, 2000.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, October 10, 1999.

"Utah Marquee: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, March 11, 2001.

"Utah Marquee: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, October 8, 1999.

"Weekend Calendar." The Deseret News, October 8, 1999.