Mutually mystical roots twined with Morris Graves' art.

 

Painters generally work alone.  I don't think it means that artists are necessarily hermits by nature...as a matter of fact by virtue of the time spent alone they can be ravenous consumers of culture and society when away from their work!  I run the gamut, but certainly have a hermetic side which I imagine Morris Graves had as well.  We were both born in Oregon (he in 1910, myself in 1962) and ended up in Seattle and maybe because of the frequent cloud cover it is more conducive for inward contemplation.

 

Morris Graves work speaks of transcendence.  By it's very nature (the subtle and sublime color and use of paint...the thoughtful brushstrokes and illumination) his paintings take the viewer into a rarefied  world between worlds.  It's as if each of his paintings pull a moment of mystical inspiration, an apparition of fleeting essence delicately into visual translation.  And whether the viewer knows it or not, they have received a benediction.  

 

 

 

I plan to continue exploring my relationship with Morris Graves and other painters of this region whose work speaks to this Northwest landscape and the mystical artwork it inspires.