The Shape of It: Watercourses III

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on October 25, 2011 at 1:00pm

Curator’s Comment:

 

I enjoy the overriding soft focused realism in this work- proof that not every blade of grass needs to be articulated to give a powerful presence to landscape.   There is a strong sensation of expansive space and restfulness in this piece in particular.  The Shape of It: Watercourses III calls attention and interest to the reflective pooling water and its direct relationship to the sky.  The shallow stream lures me back to the more lush fertile space in the middle ground, and ultimately to the mounded dark shape in the background.  This space could be anywhere, and captures a feeling of the specific as well as a more ubiquitous ground.  I often find square formatted landscapes to be curious, as they set the frame of the typical ‘Renaissance window’ slightly on edge. There is a subtle compression of the environment as the balance of visual weight works from equal sides.  But the formal arrangement notwithstanding, the deep blue sky and warm earth create a picturesque, but not too unlikely view.