Collection: The Prehistoric Collection

Nall was deeply interested in art that was made to capture the raw essence of a subject rather than representing it exactly as it appears. This is possibly why he was so drawn to "naive art" and Japanese watercolors, which led him, in 1986, to purchase the French studio of Jean Dubuffet—the creator of the Art Brut (Raw Art) movement. This philosophy, driven by raw essence, influenced his primitive and prehistoric series, which evoked a time before rigid institutional or religious ideals. Much like prehistoric ancestors who created from pure expression using raw earth pigments, Nall explored this dichotomy by blending highly technical surrealism and intaglio etching with seemingly simple subject matter, frequently juxtaposing perfected artwork with found objects like rusty metal, weathered wood, eggshells, and bullets. This practice of creating directly from the land is clearly evident in his Yelapa mask series, where he assembled scavenged seashells, bones, and palm fronds to mimic ceremonial masks, maintaining a lifelong creative lineage rooted in Dubuffet's rejection of institutional standards.