Art & Critique

Tracy Helgeson: A May Day

I have no idea why the artist called this piece “A May Day” — to me, the name “An Autumn Day ” seems much more appropriate. Perhaps this is an irony of a sort, a weather sarcasm, if you will. I may be choosing the wrong path discussing this painting as if it were depicting autumn, but I just don’t see any other. I would be very interested in your opinions on this matter. Anyway, autumn looms schematically large: the leaves, when loosing their color, usually form random, particolored patterns — but here the hues are accurately distributed between three areas, gray, purple and yellow; as a result the color diversity is reproduced on the macro level of the whole forest. The colors need to be mixed in the viewer’s mind in order to elicit the mentioned seasonal association. Though the process is probably instant, it is still perceptible, like a flash, akin to those of inspiration.

There is an interesting contrast between the generous perspective and depth of the forest and the flat blue and white stripes that cover the background, depicting, I assume, the clouds and the sky. Once again, these two areas are more schematic than realistically representational; once again, they need to be mixed to produce the skies we are accustomed to, only this time the process doesn’t seem to suggest itself that obviously. The blue and the white also neutralize the characteristically saturated colors in the foreground, adding a somewhat paradoxical (as they lack depth by themselves) visual, more abstract and conceptual perspective to the piece. The stripes and the yellow ground serve as enveloping compositional constituents; they narrow towards the right, “squeezing” the dark yellow grove — but the other two return the favor, by invading over the borders in the middle and pushing them out on the left.

The triangles of the tree crown tops form a toothed ornament complemented by the blue&white mirroring pattern. Most of the teeth are either below or above the imaginary horizontal axis; they dictate a varying geometrical tracery, upholding viewing interest and fascination. The large triangles of the trees create a further geometrical variety when opposed to the approximate white rectangle at the top of the painting. I think that all of these features attest to the artist’s ability to effectively combine color with form and produce an engaging piece of art. On a different note, I would like to address Tracy’s remark that I found elements in her artwork that she has not realized existed, as she relies mostly on her artistic intuition. To my mind, this is exactly the job of the critic: to try and define the elusive, intuitive elements that the artist passes on driven by inspiration and intuition. This reminds of the anecdote about the frog and the millipede: when the former, envious of the latter’s elegant pacing, asked the millipede how she manages to not get entangled in her feet, she began thinking, hesitating and eventually stopped. So I think that I should try to do my best not to be the frog, and not interfere with millipedes’ graceful walking. But I can’t promise anything!

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Read Related Reviews:

• Tracy Helgeson: Fields
• Tracy Helgeson: Dark Blue Barn
• Tracy Helgeson: Byzantine Blue Road
• Tracy Helgeson

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Daily/Frequent Painters, Tracy Helgeson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.