Over the River and Through the Woods
| 11.18.2021 - 01.22.2022 |
Artists: Adonna Khare, Austyn Taylor, Beau Carey, Bayard Hollins, Danielle Winger, David Rathman, Gregory Hardy, Hannah Niswonger, Jonathan Whittenberg, Julia Lucey, Lisa Bostwick, Luke Anderson, Mark Chatterley, Michael Dicker, Molly Schulps, Myers Berg, Nine Francois, Pattie Chalmers, Rachel Denny, Rene Gonzalez, Ricky Amendariz, Robin McCauley, Sue Tirrell, Taryn Boals, and Willem Volkersz
Visions West Contemporary invites you to become lost in the woods this holiday season and enter the world of contemporary naturalism. Lydia Maria Child’s holiday poem “Over the River and Through the Wood” fills the imagination with images of the festivity found in nature as the narrator journeys through the forest. This multi-generational narrative of the holiday pilgrimage has developed its own meaning in the English lexicon; and “Over the river and through the wood” is now an idiom for becoming “lost”. Stop by our Bozeman and Livingston locations and explore our artists’ creative interpretations of the wild creatures who inhabit the figurative woods of our imagination. The exhibition will feature the work of artists: Adonna Khare, Austyn Taylor, Beau Carey, Bayard Hollins, Danielle Winger, David Rathman, Gregory Hardy, Hannah Niswonger, Jonathan Whittenberg, Julia Lucey, Lisa Bostwick, Luke Anderson, Mark Chatterley, Michael Dicker, Molly Schulps, Myers Berg, Nine Francois, Pattie Chalmers, Rachel Denny, Rene Gonzalez, Ricky Amendariz, Robin McCauley, Sue Tirrell, Taryn Boals, and Willem Volkersz.
Over the River and Through the Woods
| 11.18.2021 - 01.22.2022 |
Artists: Adonna Khare, Austyn Taylor, Beau Carey, Bayard Hollins, Danielle Winger, David Rathman, Gregory Hardy, Hannah Niswonger, Jonathan Whittenberg, Julia Lucey, Lisa Bostwick, Luke Anderson, Mark Chatterley, Michael Dicker, Molly Schulps, Myers Berg, Nine Francois, Pattie Chalmers, Rachel Denny, Rene Gonzalez, Ricky Amendariz, Robin McCauley, Sue Tirrell, Taryn Boals, and Willem Volkersz
Visions West Contemporary invites you to become lost in the woods this holiday season and enter the world of contemporary naturalism. Lydia Maria Child’s holiday poem “Over the River and Through the Wood” fills the imagination with images of the festivity found in nature as the narrator journeys through the forest. This multi-generational narrative of the holiday pilgrimage has developed its own meaning in the English lexicon; and “Over the river and through the wood” is now an idiom for becoming “lost”. Stop by our Bozeman and Livingston locations and explore our artists’ creative interpretations of the wild creatures who inhabit the figurative woods of our imagination. The exhibition will feature the work of artists: Adonna Khare, Austyn Taylor, Bayard Hollins, Danielle Winger, David Rathman, Gregory Hardy, Hannah Niswonger, Jonathan Whittenberg, Julia Lucey, Lisa Bostwick, Luke Anderson, Mark Chatterley, Michael Dicker, Molly Schulps, Myers Berg, Nine Francois, Pattie Chalmers, Rachel Denny, Rene Gonzalez, Ricky Amendariz, Robin McCauley, Sue Tirrell, Taryn Boals, and Willem Volkersz.
Soft Eye: Paintings by Johnny Defeo
| 12.09.2021 - 01.14.2022 |
Artists: Johnny Defeo
Visions West Contemporary is pleased to announce Soft Eye, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Johnny Defeo. The exhibition dates are December 9th – January 14th, 2022. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, December 9th, 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Statement: Not too long ago I bought a horse, Cowboy, he's in this show. I purchased him from an online horse auction, which I was told both before and since is a highly unwise thing to do. You barely get any information about the horses at these auctions-- at best, a brief description of their physical condition, temperament, and a guess at how old they might be. But I felt confident choosing Cowboy because there was a moment in the short video accompanying his description and lot number where he looked right into the camera, and I could see that he was a sweet boy. I later learned that there's a term for that look, it's called having a 'soft eye,’ and it’s a very good thing to have in a horse. So too, I’d imagine, in all creatures living on this wild planet. Looking at the world through soft eyes implies a level of patience and care, allowing one to notice the diaphanous subtleties which escape so many. It can be easy to miss in the chaos we create. Prior to buying a horse, I moved to Taos, New Mexico last year. The human history is inexplicable from the land there, whether recounted as tales of heroics, genocide, with a spirit of adventure, or boiling hatred. These stories always include the land, are projected on the land, and are felt in the land too. I often wonder what the land would be like without humankind. In my paintings I imagine a time that predates the daily rituals, bloody fights, healing ceremonies, and protective structures created by humans. Or maybe a time when all of us are gone and there are just herds of wild horses roaming the plains, coyotes skulking through the long shadows of day’s end, and mountain vistas devoid of vacation homes, forest roads, and ski lifts. I oscillate regularly, as I am sure many do, between wishing to save the world, to commit myself to the best course and fight for a better future, and wishing the planet would just hurry up and get it over with already. The scenes in my paintings could be omens, dreamy premonitions, or stolen glances of the inevitable-- a soft eyed look at our lands unpopulated, when the wild and untamed is punctuated with moments of serenity with no one there to see it.