April Issue 2001
Darell Koons Exhibits New Work at Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC
Through
Apr. 14, Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC, is exhibiting new
work by Darell Koons, from Greenville, SC. This exhibition, entitled
Winter Weeks, Autumn Days and Sunset Years features around
20 new works painted in 2000 and 2001. A recent article written
about the artist and his work follows.
Darell Koons
by Sandra D. Rupp
Darell Koons can hit the broad side of a barn. And has been doing so for over forty years. "The first barn that I did was Pomroy's Barn back in 1958. People's National Bank bought that piece and years later when the bank was being renovated, someone just walked off with it. From the 60's on, many have "walked off" with a painting by Darell Koons. In the 70's if it were possible "for an artist's name to become a household word, then certainly Koons has that distinction insofar as South Carolina is concerned." (Contemporary Artists of South Carolina, 1970, p 137).
Those barn paintings were showing up in public and private collections all over the Southeast. Even local Greenville jeweler Heyward Sullivan developed the "Koons plate." Every fall for eight years Sullivan produced a different Koons' drawing etched on a pewter plate for holiday purchases. The name Koons became synonymous with the image of a barn and a passing age.
Koons knows of what he paints. He's walked in those barns, felt the wind through the boards, worked in those snow covered fields, played in the grasses. There was a romance, a nostalgia, to the early works. Koons didn't aim for the pleasantries of a Currier and Ives scene. Instead, there was a strange tension, a lonely isolation, a longing to return. No human figure appeared. Yet the evidence of the tools of labor were placed throughout the barn. "I can't help but be a part of my background," said the artist, adding. "The farm brings back memories. My paintings have been said to have a lonely feeling about them. Perhaps, I had a difficult childhood growing up on a farm in Michigan in the 30's. Often the temperature would be 20 degrees below zero. We didn't have the facilities that people have today, but we always had enough to eat. On the farm, you always had food."
The young child would draw pictures - mostly of airplanes. He would offer them to neighbors, teachers, friends. "People encouraged me and I didn't quit. I can't say that my parents encouraged me. I think they probably wanted me to become a farmer," said Koons. The child nurtured his artistic talent and finally landed in Greenville, SC, pursuing an art degree at Bob Jones University. He found his most ardent supporter in Eunice Moore, head of the art department in the 50's. "I felt the Lord wanted me to go in this direction. I had some ability. I believe that everyone has a gift that he can pursue," said Koons.
The early academic paintings began to evolve into the barn paintings of the 60's. Those stylized subjects filled the surfaces of smooth masonite boards. Reduced to basic shapes and patterns, the barns loomed as icons on the horizons. Cold, gray blue ribbons were streaked across the top for skies. The snow covered grounds reinforced the chill of the blues. A fellow artist describes Koons' early work: "The blue color is unlimited. It's over everything. It takes your eye from the ground to the sky. Blue gives compensation for loss of life; it bring on meditation. It brings you deeper into yourself to reflect on what it all means to you - when everything is passing." Koons says: "I like blue.. I find I wear a lot of blue and that color shows up in my paintings."
"I am a realist. A lot of people think I'm a photo realist but photo realism takes in all the details, I simplify. At various times I receive photographs from friends that have taken shots of old barns, bridges, etc., in their home town. I enjoy using these as references, but I like to go to the places that I paint. I like to see the scene myself. I think some people think that my barns are antiquated, but almost all the work I do is a current scene, a standing farm. I paint basically for the day that I live, and try to avoid too many things that date a work. I like for my barns to have a substantial quality about them, not look as if they are about to fall down.. I want my farms to be living structures, the survivors," says Koons.
Koons uses his paint brush to bring about his social commentary stating, "Everything is changing. The city has moved out into the country. Most of the farmers have gone to cash crops and away from raising livestock. The farms no longer have fences around them, and barns are a neglected form of architecture. People are letting them fall down. I remember one lady telling me, 'I wish they would tear down these eye sores.' Some things I'd like to paint have been destroyed. I've already run out of railroad depots to paint."
These days the "barn painter" is stepping back and looking around, lengthening the distance. "Those early foundations are still there, but now the buildings are pushed down and the open areas are more important. The fields become interesting shapes on which to compose," says the artist.
Koons is also looking up at dark clouds, subtle pinks, misty yellows. There's a break in the coverings and the light spills down lengthening the shadows. In these new works, stronger emphasis is placed on the sky, the atmosphere, all that surrounds the farm. "The first thing that I do in the morning is to look at the sky. I now take photographs of the sky. It changes so quickly. I can go out a little later and see a different sky. I take another picture," says Koons.
From the morning sky to the evening, the sunsets emblazon the scene with hot oranges, or encircle the farm with the soft, subtle last rays of light. "In the early days, I tended to avoid sunsets because I thought they were too sweet," says Koons, adding, "but now I can get away with it. I'm 76. My eyes are still good, though. I can see what I am doing." From his wide lens perspective, Koons paints the next scene, opening up the landscape while reaching for those bright hues. He is confident and happy with the results.
"I had a teacher say, 'Don't paint the sky blue. Paint it any color but blue.' Maybe I am finally listening to him."
Darell Koons taught art at Bob Jones University in Greenville for over 40 years and retired in 2000. He has had over 45 solo exhibitions throughout the southeast and in his home state of Michigan, as well as participating in even more group exhibitions in locations throughout the US. Koons has won numerous awrds for his talents as a painter and his work has been included in many private and public art collections including: SC State Art Collection, Bob Jones University, Gibbes Museum of Art, Greenville County Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Art, Liberty Life Insurance, North Carolina National Bank, Salem Steel, and Owens-Corning, just to name a few.
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