Yosemite Log-End...

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on December 24, 2011 at 5:35pm

Curator’s Comment:

Yosemite (Log End in Water) challenges my perceptions about photography and painting- this piece looks more painterly in the manipulation of color and light than most paintings.  The subject matter is also significantly abstracted because of color and composition.  But while I find the image strong and provocative, I do find it curious that you would include ‘calm’ and ‘serene’ as descriptives for the work.  I see agitation of space and dissonance of warm and cool color creating restless edges on the water’s surface.   The piece could actually call to mind exquisite contaminants in the nature landscape- much as we’ve becoming accustomed to seeing the breathtaking beautiful but tragic oil spills in our great waters.   The log’s severed end protruding about the current seems an observer- slanting towards the subtly convoluted movement.   I alternately find Pistol River Edge II to be the most soothing piece in your folio.  The larger proportion of land in the foreground creates a swelling wave as the space recedes into softer, atmospheric mist.   The muted color palette further quiets the already still landscape.  But while these pieces stir different feelings from me towards the landscape, they both exhibit a skillful, seductive Romanticism.  And as with all good romantics, nature is a stunning force beyond our control.