Nathan Ng Catlin

When We Were Young, 2020
Relief print
18 x 12 inches
Edition: 3

Bathtub Haircuts, 2021
Relief print
10 x 8 inches
Edition: 3

“I made both these works during the beginning times of Covid. When making When We Were Young I was thinking about the people I miss as we were all stuck indoors and away from each other. The idea of aging and reminiscing felt very relevant at the time as it felt like it would be forever until we saw each other again. Bathtub Haircuts is based on a photo I took of my friends who moved in with me mid covid while they were between places. It was the first time cutting each other's hair since the start of the pandemic and it was a simple intimate moment that captured a relatively mundane action that almost everyone was going through because of Covid.”

Nathan Ng Catlin is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. A mixed-race first-generation Asian American from southern California, Catlin is interested in the complex narratives that arise from distinctions (culture, views on morality, etc.) that bring people together and separate them. His work is representational and figurative, featuring human interactions that draw inspiration from classical paintings, comic books, and tattoos. Catlin received his BFA in printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007 and his MFA from Columbia University in 2012. His work has been shown nationally and internationally and is represented by Davidson Gallery in NYC. He works in multiple mediums including printmaking, painting, ceramics, stained glass, and mosaic.

Catlin is an adjunct professor in printmaking, teaching at Columbia University since 2012.  He has also taught at CUNY City College and Purchase College in the printmaking departments.