I started this painting before the present pandemic changed our world, but after I think I may have actually had a bout of the virus for my birthday in early February, after another of my NYC trips.
Here It Comes...is the second in a new series of works that incorporate or refer to places close to home, in this case the ridge behind my studio. I've been living and working on five acres of hilly field-and-forest overlooking the Columbia River since the early 90's. This patch of trees was planted in a tight grid by the previous owner about a dozen years before our arrival. We've thinned them several times for the health of the remaining trees, the last time shipping out five log trucks loaded with bucked timber we yarded from this ridge down to a landing on the road. Good thing we did it, because the increasingly warmer-drier climate here might have seriously stressed this formerly too-dense stand, as it has many in the region. The view north to the hills exists for now only in this painting, although it was visible back when we moved here and those trees were only ten feet tall. Now the trees on the lower slopes have grown up to obscure the distant view from this ridge, but it remains a knockout vista of snow-capped mountains and the river from other spots on the property.
The machinery in the lower right corner of the painting is the cross-slide and apron of my 1930's vintage lathe, handy for making parts for everything around here. A lathe is said to be the only machine tool that can be used to reproduce itself (at least it was back in the days before 3D machining and printing), and it also serves to call up one of my favorite stories, Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin, about dreams that can change reality...
I was in NYC again in early March, flying west on the 14th as the city shut down around me. I was lucky to have been able to see the great Vida Americana show at the Whitney, and the mysterious Agnes Pelton exhibit that had opened for only a few days before the museum was closed. I almost made it to see the Peter Saul blast at the New Museum, but after picking up some electronic parts nearby and grabbing some apparently ill-advised dim sum around the corner, I felt not-so-well and barely made it back to my apartment before symptoms developed that I'll leave to the imagination. I was worried that now I had caught the real virus. It was a tough couple of hours but I came out of it at 3AM ready to fold the laundry and catch up on some computer work. They closed the New Museum for the duration that night, so my chances of seeing the work in person, and a lot of other activities will have to await the "all-clear" and a determination that we have immunity from prior exposure or a miracle vaccine.
Here It Comes... is a reference to a wide range of unknowable and unforseen changes to our world, now upon us in a blink, with a profound global span and an intensity still unfolding that has upended everything we thought we knew and planned for. Many have spoken and written about the pause that has resulted in a big reduction in traffic and pollution, the slowing down of everything (other than the heroic and urgent health care and emergency response) that opens a window into an alternative life that dramatically illustrates the side-effects of constant growth. Let's all use the opportunity to make something better from this forced break in business-as-usual.
I'm featured in a virtual exhibition at ABFA Gallery this month: Urban/Rural , please have a look.
My wonderful gallery representation: LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
And as always, you can also contact me directly by email: info@sethtane.com and follow my occasional photo posts on: Instagram