A terrain both harsh and beautiful profoundly shapes its inhabitants. Ranch hands form calluses while wildlife adapt and flourish. Three artists, Drew Christie, Terry Gardner, and Scott Yeager, who themselves thrive in the high country, paint to express their admiration of this land and its spirit. Through lived experience comes an examination of the human condition and survival through paint and canvas.
Cinematic in composition, observers are prompted to contemplate the potential narratives in Drew Christie's paintings. Larger than life central figures are framed imposingly in equally arresting scenery. Homesteaders with livestock and cowboys roaming widely appear mid-adventure as we find them captured in rich oil paint hues of the artist's imagination.
With edges blurred as if plucked from a dream, Terry Gardner's scenes and figures embody Western lore. Stoic figures are composed of the same expressive brushstrokes and uncanny hues of their foregrounds; those who work the land come to reflect it.
Plein air studies are the backbone of Scott Yeager's artistic practice. Larger compositions are synthesized from the hours spent immersed studying flora, fauna, and mountains. Although a single scene, Yeager's paintings take on a time-lapsed quality, as if we too observed the animal migrations and passing storms.
These artists, as with anyone who becomes acquainted with in a brief or lifetime of experience in the West, take pains to unveil the capricious nature of this unique environment. We hope you find the same connection through this exhibition.
