Constituting memories and primarily the 
experience of places, whether Atlanta or
Rome, the paintings serve as catalysts to
an investigation of line, form and color.
"Atlanta feels like a red city to me," says
Nellsmith, noting the presence of the city's heat, activity and smell. The vivid colors of
the artist's paintings in part derive from his inclination to associate a palette of colors
with a particular place. Columbia, he says, is "more yellow-orange with some blue-grey.
I read New York as "purple."
Rome, the inspiration for some of the new works, feels orange and ochre to him.
Those looking at the artist's work, however, 
should not try to read too literally into these canvases or search too deep for familiar physical landmarks within these associative color fields. These paintings are not visual transcriptions. Once started, the paintings become the artist's investigations into the materials of paint itself, a passionate exercise in expressionism.
The richly colorful spaces and exciting active marks of these works derive from an artist who is well-schooled in the history and theory of art but who nevertheless appreciates the sense of immediacy and discovery of the process of painting. Though intellectually grounded in the traditions and formalism of painting, Nellsmith approaches each work on its own terms, a visual landscape that does not require verbal articulation.
-Terri Tynes, NY,NY
Carolina Arts 
October Issue 2007
Nellsmith’s overwhelming use of bright
color grabs the viewer’s attention and only
releases it after the scene, the street or
the city block is recognized underneath
the flow of colors and shapes. His primary
intention is not to reproduce a particular
part of the city, but to depict what is behind
the walls of buildings and to reflect the energy of the place. The dynamic compositions of his canvases add to the energy and movement of the paintings. The city is alive and in motion and Nellsmith let’s the viewer know that.
The spontaneous cityscapes are reminiscent of the American Abstract Expressionism movement, capturing the essence of a chosen place or city with unanticipated and often surprising colors, lines and shapes. Through his canvases Nellsmith allows the viewer to see how the artist perceives Columbia and through the powerful colors he shares the passion of the city, which could barely be portrayed by using only realistic colors and a more traditional style.
-Judith Trunkos
Published in Arts & Literature <a href="http://columbiacitypaper.com/arts">http://columbiacitypaper.com/arts</a>
