Nick Weber Honors Hamptons Immigrants in Paint

During a time when “immigrant” has become something of a bad word for a large portion of the population, East Hampton artist Nick Weber is making an effort to honor, not vilify, the hardworking people who have come to the Hamptons from other countries in search of a better life.

Inspired by the changing political landscape, along with his own interactions with numerous local immigrants in his life — some of whom he’d already painted over the years — Weber decided to be more deliberate in his effort to create a true portrait series.

“I’ve been interested in people who are immigrants for a long time, long before the art world was taken over by social justice,” Weber says explaining how he worked for a landscaping company years ago and found himself with deep admiration for his coworkers. “I was working with some Mexican guys and couple guys from Ecuador, and I was struggling to keep up with them just physically and mentally, the repetitive work,” he continues, adding, “It was hard work for me, and the work itself had a profound impact on me and changed who I am in a really positive way.”

Weber describes days of raking and mowing lawns on palatial Hamptons estates, using edge clippers and chainsaws, dragging 100-pound leaf piles 200 yards on tarps and more. “Working like that was just good for me. And so, of course, naturally, without even trying, I began to admire the guys who I was doing it with,” he explains. “I just thought, these are tough people. These are hardworking people. These are people who are able to do something that I find very difficult. And I also found them to be patient, warm — it wasn’t just that they had this physical stamina. They were teaching me how to do it. They were patient with me learning, as long as they saw that I was trying to do it because I hadn’t done a lot of manual labor as a teenager. … And so I became interested in these people.”

Over time, Weber says he noticed a large portion of the people he painted were immigrants, and not by design. “A lot of Eastern Europeans. A number of Jamaican people. And, you know, my wife is Bulgarian,” he says, pointing out that this series includes Mijo, (aka Daniel or Francisco), a young Ecuadoran artist in his mid-30s; Chelsea from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago who he met when she worked at a local farm stand in 2022 and 2023; Jeovanny, an Ecuadorian with a carpentry business in East Hampton; Gonzalo, an East Hampton landscaper, also from Ecuador, who has done lots of work for Weber; and Gloria, a Columbian who Weber and his wife met while she was babysitting at a farm stand in Amagansett. He shares each of their stories in words and paint with beautifully rendered portraits.

“In recent years, political discourse around immigration has shifted from divisive to dehumanizing, particularly in conservative media. While the United States may need to address security and reform processes at our southern border, that’s separate from vilifying the people themselves,” Weber says. “The individuals I’ve encountered are some of the most hardworking, intelligent and community-focused people I’ve ever met. Their bravery and resilience deserve to be recognized, and I’m honoring that by capturing their likeness — in a medium traditionally reserved for CEOs and corporate power brokers.”

Each painting is done from life, with his subject sitting for Weber while he paints, bringing something really special to the relationship between artist and subject, and the shared deference between them. “You know, Gonzalo sat stone still without moving for like two hours, two different sessions. He didn’t move at all. And you just felt this guy, he was taking this very seriously. This meant something to him. … He does gardening at our house, so I said to him afterward, ‘I’ll Venmo you for your time.’ And he was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ He said this was very meaningful to him.”

And that, in turn, made it even more meaningful for Weber, who shares intimate observations about each person he paints. In capturing them and doing his best to find the truth in their faces, the artist gets to know his subjects. And the series will continue.

Weber is currently showing other paintings in a group show called Amalgam with Jack Henry, Victoria DeLesseps, Isadora Capraro and Lautaro Cuttica at Gambit Works gallery in Manhattan (1155 6th Avenue), which opened on October 29 and will remain on view though November 20.

See more of Nick Weber’s work at nickweberstudio.com.