03/13/2026
Nathaniel Bustion, a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose practice spanned printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, and painting, often drew from African sculptural traditions and personal history to explore themes of lineage and identity. In the first frame, the figure of “Big Momma” becomes more than a single person as she emerges as a symbolic center, an anchor of family, tradition, and generational wisdom.
Photographic images, ceremonial forms, and mask-like faces surround the central figure, evoking the many lives, stories, and histories that flow through one matriarch. The richly textured surface of the relief print gives the work a sense of vibration and movement, as if memory itself were rising to the surface.
With Bustion’s passing in 2022, we are especially honored to hold a small number of his final printer proofs. See the limited edition etchings in person at Christopher John Gallery in Santa Monica. Email or call to book a private viewing appointment.