Exhibitions

It is one thing to convincingly and accurately depict an object, it is another to elevate it to something meditative and transpirational as this work does. The strong use of chiaroscuro creates an immediate central focus, while subtle highlights and color transitions lead the viewer through the work in surprising ways. Looking at the work, I find myself turning inward in ways that only great works can stimulate.

The artist has captured so many different qualities of light: thick in the atmosphere, warm against the cold rocks, bright on the water, and dull along the sand. The artist has successfully taken the huge variety of colors and textures that make California coastlines such compelling subjects, and put them harmoniously into one striking image.

This work does what everyone of the millions of awestruck casual, amateurs who visits Joshua Tree dreams: shows the moment the sky turns to jeweled colors and the desert changes from inhospitably from hot to cool. The naturalism of these scene belies a masterful control of composition and color as great artists can do.

With no clear idea of the narrative of the scene, I am astounded by its ambition, vision, and technical skill. Each element of the work is exquisitely and convincingly rendered. The otherworldly palette takes what would be ordinary rocks, clouds, clothes, and birds to a heightened sense of reality. I am unable to look away or stop thinking about it. It is cinematic in the full sense of the word, containing worlds upon worlds.