About the Artist:
Nataeo Adansuné

For Nataeo Adansuné, art has always been a way of seeing the world differently. Born and raised on Long Island, New York, his creative journey began at five years old, when a classroom encounter with Van Gogh’s Sunflowers sparked a lifelong passion. Encouraged by his late mother’s deep love for music and Afro-centric art, Nataeo grew up surrounded by creativity, learning that every canvas holds a thousand different stories depending on who looks.

 

Drawing with his father and admiring artists like Van Gogh, Basquiat, and Bob Ross, Nataeo dreamed of creating magic through his own hands. Though a devastating loss of one of his early artworks caused him to step away from drawing as a teen, he continued expressing himself through poetry, never entirely abandoning his artistic spirit.

 

After years working as a charge nurse in an ICU and facing serious health challenges, Nataeo found his way back to visual art during the pandemic. What began as a way to heal through pain became a deeper exploration of self, history, and imagination.

 

It was a rediscovery sparked by serendipity. One evening, his sister unearthed two drawings he had made at eleven years old. Nataeo barely recognized them, but something inside him did. He realized that the artist he thought had disappeared had simply been waiting.

 

He made himself a promise: "Paint through the pain."

 

Today, his work combines abstraction, hidden imagery, and layered storytelling. Through his signature style, MyeyeTRA — "my eye" with "ART" spelled backward — Nataeo invites viewers to slow down, look closer, and experience the unseen. His paintings, especially his Turtle Island series, celebrate resilience, ancestral knowledge, and the mysteries of the human spirit.

 

"I decided to stop trying to make art for others, but instead for myself."
— Nataeo Adansuné