Page 84 - I Love Art : 64 Contemporary Artists

Anne Labovitz

Lives and works in Duluth, MN USA
www.labovitz.com

LAnDSCAPE | The natural environment of the bration of the intense and varied beauty of the
upper Midwest, specifically Minnesota and the Upper Midwest landscape and a reminder of
north shore of Lake Superior inspires this series the fragility of the eco-system. Each painting
of paintings. Densely populated with majestic is a snapshot of a moment in time of the tree
trees and robust plants, the area boasts many or plant. Created as a documentation of the
state and national parks including the Boundary landscape in the present, they are immortalized
water Canoe Area. in the ever changing natural scenery. Marks are
Over the years, the landscape throughout the made using tree parts such as leaves and sprigs
state has been altered from both man-made as paintbrushes.
and natural blights. These paintings are a cele- Exact replicas of the leaves emerge in these
paintings, suspended throughout layers of thinly
tinted polymer emulsion. They exist frozen
in time yet the cumulative presence of their
imagery appears dynamic. Colors and shapes
evolve, creating movement and the depiction
of the miraculous change of seasons. Many of
the paintings have over 80 coats of the emulsion
to achieve the luminous quality of captured
light and provide contrast and intense depth,
offering a pathway for the eye to travel. The
layers along with the breadth of hues utilized
allow the viewer to feel as if gazing upon living,
growing plant life.

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