The first thing I noticed when browsing through Frank Gardner’s marine paintings was the recurrence of the wall motif. In towns — on terra firma — it was people against the walls; here, at sea, it is the boats. But perhaps the artist takes the contrast up a notch, to a level where it mutates into a real clash: that of the sea and the land and that of living on a constant move and in a permanent dwelling placed on the ground. Planes of bright single hue, which formed the walls in the town, stream down into the see and break down into shimmering reflections. The stability and quietude of the city is lost, the inconstancy and irregularity of the sea is gained.
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Frank Gardner is an American painter (and art instructor) currently residing and working in Mexico. Oil is his medium; he applies it to cotton and linen canvases to create outdoor scenes and landscapes involving farm, urban and marine subject-matter. Frank Gardner publishes his work online on his blog and on his website. Many of his works are for sale via art galleries listed on the galleries page of his website. In today’s review I would like to talk about his village/urban scenes and particularly the puzzling and captivating contrast of the small human figure and the surrounding monumental buildings.
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As I already mentioned in the first review, Deborah Paris aims at completeness of the viewing experience. Her marine scenes offer exactly that: the artist employs the relatively limited genre inventory to the fullest. Her template of sea paintings consists of a three leveled composition, with some loud action occurring on the forefront, the sea stretching above and beyond and the sky overlooking solemnly from above. This basic set-up captures the major nature’s ways of showing itself — a disaster, a constant movement and displacement (of water, sand, people) and a serene, meta-calm rest which, in fact, to many may appear the most threatening and portending state of them all.
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Having little to no knowledge of the technical side of painting snow, I would guess that the substance poses at least two creative problems. First, white seems counter-intuitive and restrictive in terms of main palette choice — just by being a “colorless” color. When covering wide spaces, white may confuse, possibly repel the viewer; negative space becomes exaggeratedly such, complicating visual comprehension. Second is the color’s (and snow’s) inherent susceptibility to the influence of other hues: it presents a clean slate that any other color can contaminate. Therefore, snow asks for special care and consideration, adding another sensitive variable to the artist’s set of existent challenges. So let’s examine how she copes with these two.
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Deborah Paris is an American landscape painter, working in oil and pastel. You will find many digital reproductions of her canvases on her website; latest pieces are being exhibited on her blog. Deborah Paris is represented by several galleries, Ernest Fuller Fine Art (artist bio page) being one of them.
The artist works in a variety of settings, evidently aiming at diversity, and avoiding the common pitfalls of genre painting. She does not repeat herself, but quotes; does not stand still thematically, but seeks new challenges. As a result, her oeuvre presents a rich and thorough monograph on the local landscape. For this review I have chosen the several autumnal dusky works that could, when combined, constitute a series. I like these because the brush records pristine air and evokes a tenderness of mood, with a dash of sadness. The colors compose a visual adagio that sneaks up upon the audience, softly lulling it into an evening, eyes-half-closed phase.
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