After the Canaries Left the Coal Mines, the Mountains Began to Leave Appalachia

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Comment by Resident Curator on June 18, 2018 at 8:21am

Curator’s Comments:  

 

I find the title of this straightforward painting to be quite poetic. The hard defining break of the diptych format separates the ground from the sky, visually adding to the notion that the mountains would literally lift off their bases. The darker tree line in the foreground overlapping the lighter violet and blue silhouettes of land anchors the composition, and contributes to the narrative of darkened and contaminated mines.  That the viewer doesn’t actually see the canaries as bellwethers of an ominous future is an interesting artistic choice. Perhaps we are left to contemplate the “after” in the story, viewing the mountains fading away from the sharper, graphic, and most immediate presence.