Past the looking glass

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on June 18, 2016 at 4:35pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

It’s worth contemplating the image Past the Looking Glass next to what appears to be its black and white version, Darkness Calls.  The intense hues in the color image are wonderfully dramatic, and bring to mind a surreal place as suggested by the piece’s title.  I see the palatte as heightened local color, with the spectrum deeper and darker than a natural sky.  The deep red violet could suggest extreme weather or warning- visually the darkness presses down on the lighter shades of turquoise and blue.  I like that the landscape exists of sky and tree tops, as the cutting off of the ground or horizon increases the feeling of the unreal.  The viewer is left ungrounded in the dreamlike space, as dark branches lace through the openings.  For me the emphasis is much more on light in the achromatic Darkness Calls.  Instead of being drawn into the sweeping color in the top of the piece, my eyes rest in the center area, with more highlight and contrast.  The framing quality of the trees does imply a vague horizon in this starker stage, though I still like the spidery quality of the trees.  Both images recall night fall as the darker values descend from the top visually to the still light environment below. They both evoke awe and mystery in the everyday.