Early Afternoon - Norwood

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on January 9, 2014 at 4:12pm

Curator’s Comments: 

 

These frozen landscapes are quite appealing despite a similar view outside.  I’m struck by the severity of the limited color palette, especially when contrasted with your lively red striped still life pieces.  Consequently I find these paintings much more somber and contemplative, with the uninterrupted horizon cutting across the relative center of the picture plane.  The chunky blocks of steel blue and tinted violet are dragged across the surface of the work, creating a physical movement of the earth and tides.  The deep blue water line in the distance is an interesting and unexpected break from the otherwise atmospherically receding space.  Ice Chunks-Norwood is an observably related work, although it employs a slightly more aggressive handling of the broken up foreground, and arguably softer recession of the distant landscape.  I like that the swath of gray ice moves in from the middle right center, formally echoing the counter surge of the pale blue arching from bottom-left.  The red-violet land mass further in the background nicely stabilizes the painting, and offers a warmer element to create distinction from the wintry lake.  The fact that these were executed as plein air paintings is rather impressive.  As the best of these may be, they’re fresh, and focused, and bring the viewer directly to the scene.