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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).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.