WEST GLOVER – An exhibition of twelve recent paintings by Ben Barnes can be seen until March 10 at Parker Pie Restaurant in West Glover.
Formerly a resident of the area, Barnes now lives in St. Johnsbury, and his subject matter ranges from landscapes to still lifes and urban scenes. His ability to capture the floating effects of natural light, to make dynamic and perfectly balanced compositions, to use color harmoniously and to render the exquisite detail and texture of plant foliage is consistently astonishing. These are paintings that would be a delight to live with everyday.
“Cranberry Relish” is a still life that depicts the element that go into preparing that condiment, with fresh red berries in a glass bowl, lemons and oranges and large grey metal grinder dominating the center of the work, all on a white table with a red edge to it, bathed in light from a window to the left. The curve of the grinder handle contrasts well with the diagonal angle by which the table top is seen. Cone flowers and holyhocks show a bouquet in a dark glass vase on a table, with an upholstered chain and a window having smaller colored panes on the contour on the right. The purple flowers are carefully painted and the whole composition is coherent.
The light of an overcast autumn day is beautifully painted in “Maquam,” with our eyes first drawn to the center of the piece where the sky and the tree limbs are reflected in the water, with the tangle of barren branches masterfully handled. An incredible number of small brush strokes build up this effect in muted colors of grey, brown and blue, creating a work with remarkable presence. “Shades of Red” plays with two red pickup trucks on the left foreground juxtaposed to a red clapboard building with white trim behind to the right in a bold composition, everything exactly in place for a harmonious balance.
“Baker Pond” has dark and light areas between green conifer on the right and a distant tree line across an expanse of light grey water, while the sun attempts to bore through the clouds, everything having an end of the summer ambience.
“South Beach Haze” almost looks like an ocean scene, with a cliffy shore line above the waves of water meeting the rocks of the land’s edge, in a somewhat moody atmosphere.
“Highgate Bay Bonzai” focuses on a convoluted piece of driftwood on the beach, the rounded rocks and vegetation rendered in minute detail that is quite starting in its visual immediacy. “Scrap Metal Dump” is a large landscape of an old flat bed truck in the woods surrounded by overgrown summer plants, in particular some flowering Queen Anne’s Lace, again painted with immense patience to convey the beauty of the leaves, bringing to mind the magnificent watercolor of Albrecht Durer (1471 – 1528), the “Great Piece of Turf” of 1503. The reflected light off the black rear lines and the wooden bed of the truck centers the whole work effectively.
“Sutton” has a beautifully proportioned structure with a red barn on the left and white house on the right, separated by an area of trees in the shade, the kind of painting we can enjoy looking at from a distance as well as very close up.
“River Rocks” is a small landscape that is a real tour de force in painting one of the most difficult elements, namely flowing water. Water is always moving, reflecting the world around it, but being transparent we can see through it to other things, a tremendous visual challenge. Here a stream flows over rounded rocks, the large ones above, the smaller ones underwater, very convincingly painted with innumerable brush strokes while white sparkling explosions of sunlight on the water are scattered across the canvas, with an altogether riveting effect.
“Pumpkin Hill Hedgerow” is an autumn landscape of a cluster of white bricks in the foreground with orange leaves on the ground below and a lovely blue sky through the trees behind, perfectly capturing the light of that season. How a painter can get just the right tone in all the colors to convey the sunlight of a certain moment is a marvel genuinely intense seeing. This work has an inner light that is breathtaking.
“Last Few Leaves” is a large rectangular painting of the ending of fall, where a leafless pair of maples on the left has a burst of grey branches balanced by red barns to the right, creating an exacting sense of proposition, combined with rich detail and entrancing light, everything you would ever want in a significant work of art.
For more information, call (802) 673 – 9771 or go online to @benbarnesart on Instagram or Benjamin Barnes on Facebook.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
