Course of the Valley

SOLD

80” x 30” diptych

Oil, spray paint, sumi inks, acrylic, and gouache on panel

Course of the Valley tells the tale of a lost valley and the beings that lived in it. It’s an old tale that repeated itself most voraciously between 1930 and 1960 when the era of dam-building changed the course of rivers for the long haul. Valley forests are often razed in prep for the flooding that will produce a reservoir, contributing to carbon emissions as the fallen trees decompose elsewhere (in fact deforestation in general contributes up to 10% of carbon emissions globally). The right panel depicts the remaining stumps after this kind of activity as the terrain awaits its flood, the surrounding landscape soon to be a soggy memory. I originally intended to reverse the panels so that the stump-scape would be on the left, leading the viewer towards the other panel and the downstream logs waiting to be carted off to wherever they might go next, the gushing falls soon to be quenched when the river’s flow is stymied. But art has a life of its own and they eventually insisted on ending up where they are now. Pesky, unpredictable art.

It's an old tale so I wanted the painting to feel it. I took a graphic approach to depicting the stumps and hillside cascading down along the waterfall, leaving something that feels kind of like a woodblock print. The olive-rich palette and blocky contrast remind me a little of the art that I used to adore in my grandmother’s house that felt so very 50s/60s – appropriate given the time the painting harkens to. That said the piece really is begging to live above a credenza in a midcentury home in 2022 :)

This painting is part of my exhibition “Hothouse” at Space Gallery in Denver, CO. Please direct purchase inquiries to the gallery at art@spacegallery.org or (303) 993-3321.