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September Issue 2004

Gallery 9 Near Banner Elk, NC, Features Works by Lynn Boggess

The last time we saw Lynn Boggess he was standing on a boulder in the Watauga River under a 9-foot umbrella, his canvas bolted to a sturdy homemade easel, 10 cement trowels and an array of primary colors laid out before him. Boggess, a purist in the plein-aire tradition, was hoping to complete a painting before the brunt of a tropical storm hit our mountains. Mist had begun to seep through the umbrella when we left; Boggess was smiling in the preternatural light.

In his first one man show at Gallery 9, entitled, Water, Rocks & Leaves ­ A Summer's Contemplation in Paint, Boggess presents recent works from the Appalachian Mountains both near his home in West Virginia and from Watauga and Avery counties. The exhibit opens on Sept. 4 and continues through Oct. 6, 2004.

In the past five years Boggess has refined a personal and unique style of painting using oils, cement trowels, and an occasional palette knife to create a bas relief effect that, in its own right, becomes the textured recording of those several hours of total sensory immersion in plein-aire. His paintings have a dimensionality that is sculptural and organic.

Boggess, a professor at Fairmont State University in West Virginia, is fondly referred to as teaching "the trowel & error" method. On a whim, five years ago while fixing a leak in his roof, Boggess grabbed a cement trowel and tossed it in with his stash of painter's gear. Thus began the start of his unique method of mixing only primary colors, then smearing the canvas with the predominant colors of the environment du jour to build impasto, often with strokes from the blade an inch deep.

Boggess has learned from many wonderful accidents how to create a perfectly vibrant leaf with just a flick of his wrist and a 6" trowel, or a liquid river reflection with a 12" trowel and the proper smear. He thrives on his solitary hours in nature averaging three to four paintings a week. In his environmental interpretations, one never finds a trace of mankind. There are no fences, barns, utility poles or wires. After years of studio paintings that presented a social commentary, Boggess now chooses to open the eyes of the viewer to stark beauty. In his meticulous studies of light, color and texture, the artist offers small windows in nature that are exquisite in their ability to soothe, yet excite, the soul.

For more information, check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 828-963-6068, e-mail at (gallery9@skybest.com), or at (www.gallery9.com).


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