By Chad Neal
Shad Nowicki has been an Ellicottville local now for over two decades and is living his best life as an artist who recreates pop-culture moments from movies and tv shows by painting characters on canvas (and sometimes pizza boxes). Nowicki started painting his own visions many years ago which he has sold to many folks from Ellicottville and others world-wide, and since he has painted hundreds more including portraits of famous people from cult classic movies to very popular newer shows; stemming from the mid twentieth century to modern day entertainment. His love of the screen is shown through his art on his canvases. For over ten years he has gone to Comic Convention shows showing off and selling his work all while meeting many of the celebrities he’s enjoyed and depicted on canvas.
At the end of March his next show will be at Steel City Con in Monroeville, Pa. close to Pittsburg where he will once again shake hands with Richard Dreyfus who is scheduled to be there. Many others will be there as well including Fraiser (Kelsey Grammer) and MacGuyver (Richard Dean Anderson). Nowicki has befriended many celebrities and has become one among them as he keeps correspondence with many of them. One of those famous Hollywood types is Don Gibb. Gibb played “Ogre” in the 80’s comedy ‘Revenge of the Nerds “and Kumite fighter in the martial arts movie “Bloodsport”. He received a text with a picture from Gibb’s wife (whom Shad calls a “sweetheart” all the while calling Gibb a “big teddy bear”) of Ogre sitting next to prints of all the protagonist characters from Revenge of the Nerds which inspired this article. Nowicki often gives his portrait paintings of the character actors to the performers when he meets them.
Shad has a website (shadart.biz) and a Facebook page which he often posts live stream of his technique; painting one of the personalities he is a fan of. Not only does he recreate their visage with acrylic, he collects toys and pictures from the genres as well. He is a pop-culture guru and has a story behind everything he creates, collects and owns. Nowicki has a plethora of action figures and sets from movies and shows displayed throughout his apartment which is also his art studio. All of the friends he’s made from the entertainment world are hanging as memories on his wall in photographs with him. With all of the curiosities from the world of pop-culture around his domicile it’s easy to get caught up in the stories he has for them, as Shad Nowicki is a very entertaining host.
The Steel City Comic Con March 31-April 2, 2023 is Nowicki’s next road trip to set up his display of a vast amount of paintings and sculptures he molds and paints of monsters and zombies, and prints of his most popular paintings all signed and numbered. He will also attend Nickel City Con in Buffalo in July at the Buffalo Convention Center where he wants to meet The Fonz (Henry Winkler) among many other famous folks as they are a quite a big draw to the conventions of these sort. He also plans on reuniting with Michael Rooker at this show who has acted in many movies, most well known for The Walking Dead. Nowicki did a cross-over of Rooker from “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the famous playgirl photo of Burt Reynolds and presented it to Rooker who gladly accepted and displays it.
As he was honorably inducted into the Nerds world through Gibb, he is the Official Nerd Painter. His art keeps changing and growing and Nowicki enjoys all of it. He told The Villager at the interview in his Studio, he is doing “sculpting a ton. Tons of it. It’s fun!” He uses an airbrush to paint the details just right. He is involved in an up and coming movie (which title he will not yet mention) for the art work on the poster. He is ready to paint anything and does commissions all the time. His ‘Copper Bones’ sculpture mold will show the way to the treasure he has waiting for anyone who is a fan of pop-culture. Nowicki is a fan of all of the people he paints and they are fans of his. Check out his work and check out the comic cons he displays and sells his work. 