I am a lover of landscapes. I have painted them in oils, watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, ink, even collage and the results vary with mood and the weather--often the same. I have spent many hours in the same place at the same time. Losing myself in a scene is essential, whether finished from a photo later or not. I've been told that losing awareness of time and self, while completely focused on an external scene is outward meditation. Whatever you call it. Landscape artists often exchange knowing looks about how good it feels to paint nature, especially outside.
When a friend told me she had a photograph in Las Laguna Gallery's landscape show, I was curious about the work. Here were landscapes, seascapes, dreamscapes in paint, acrylic, wax, pastel, gauche, prints, pottery, photographs, (digital prints, silverpoint and images mixed with paint.). Whether literal or abstract, engineered or imagined ,work seemed to glory less in human perception than the unknowable mystery of nature.
I also liked the gallery's strategy for showing work, both democratic and practical. They choose a small group of featured artists whose work is shown both in the physical gallery (by appointment) and online with a large online group. All artists pay 35.00 to submit 3 pieces but are guaranteed one will be in the online show. They might also be featured. It's the usual 60/40 gallery split but artists can also choose NFS (not for sale).
Below are ones I liked, though you might choose others. Since "like" is a useless meme these days, I have added some thoughts. But there were a lot of deserving work. Shows on themes are changed monthly, so go soon to www.laslagunagallery.com if you want to see LANDSCAPES.
FEATURED, Joe A, Oakes' Sunset Path acrylic top, Jacqueline Clary's Conversation bottom , acrylic
Oakes'
Sunset Path uses acrylics for vivid colors and textures smooth enough for this imagery to be airbrushed or a seriograph print. The
Path looks manmade, whether it started as a natural grove on eitherside of a gulley or not. The technique matches the mystery of the subject. The shadows--layered and unruly and full of emotional content are a moving contrast. and focus of this painting.
Jacqueline Clarey's
Conversation seems commentary in this Covid time of isolation. The empty chairs appear stand-ins for missing people. The background of trees and foliage is more varied and alive than the inert though strangely articulate furniture. Differently positioned chairs hint at what's missing--human personality, And the gray color is alive; touched with blue shadow or by the sun. This painting paining touched me..
Online show includes below, Yuqiao Guo's Valley oil pastel, Canoglu Perihan's Golden Deers acrylic, Sarah Drummond's Lingering Light linocut reduced print.
Valley is a marvel of oil pastel, a medium given to muddy colors and anything but controlled textures, at least in my hands. I'm not bad with pastel, but this oil pastel painting (on canvas) is remarkable for building clear luminous textured areas with subtle color gradations. There is no watercolor but there are puddles here and where the sun hits, land is golden. This is a "magical" place.
Shall I talk about these decorative almost animated looking deer and the "golden mean" snail shapes surrounding them? With antlers these Golden Deers connect heaven and Earth (assuming the blue section is ocean? I have no idea what this signifies but really enjoyed this playful lovely work.
Lingering Light manages to be precise and beautiful. Eerie light makes a seascape suddenly lunar and transcendent. It hopscotches from sun to water and illuminates in foreground what could be water, trash or silvery rocks. Nature is alien in a cartoony style that amazed me technically. A linocut reduced print is actually a linoleum block. This artist is extraordinary, managing such delicacy and humor, hinting at sci fiction in this work.
Diana Rivera's
Lonely bike on side street, Greenwich Village, 2011
Silver gelatin print. A cityscape, unlike land or seascapes, is a world built for people, where nature seems secondary. In this cityscape, trees and streetlamps arch together toward the sky forming an erratic bower. The presence of a lone chained bike without handle bars to steer, appears more human than a barely visible person blending in with buildings.at the end of the street. There is a pathos to that abandoned bike. I have seen that street in spring when those trees have flowers and never saw that bike, a common sight in 2011. Takes a great photograph to bring back erased time with emotion. This is silverpoint, a slow process that articulates the tones, the whites so nuanced in this photo--Prosaic and singular.
S.W.
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