“Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? Gauguin 1897
The disruptive effects of Covid were profound, touching most aspects of life as we formerly knew it. We were fortunate to have our home in Italy where we could hunker down to simple living, focus on painting, and weather the storm while humanity struggled for an organized response to the pandemic. Our normal migratory pattern was upended and return to America came later than usual. Our stay was half as long. Further complicating things, we added an extended experience in Florida to the mix. Following the leisurely pace of life in an Italian village this rhythm felt extreme.
Our brief studio time in New York was spent reviewing our inventory of work. There we experienced a trip of a different sort: to past places and moments in our years of painting landscapes together. Pangs of nostalgia, augmented by the fact that we had not taught physical classes in over a year, added an unexpected emotional dimension. So many adventures, people, sites. Memories all connected to paintings.
Questions arose. In shattering the shape of our past, Covid simultaneously presented new opportunities to map out the future. What would our response be? How much of the past order did we want to preserve? What do we want to do? What should our future to look like? Where will it unfold?
We are grappling with the answers to these questions, but a shift is underway. We feel it and are assisting it with plans for a future of painting. It’s a moment of flux. As unsettling as it is, we welcome it. After all, this is the progress of life.
The works selected for this exhibition represent a slice of our experiences painting both personal and class related destinations in Italy, France and the USA. Most were executed directly on location. The poetic interpretations were inspired by actual places. They show what we chose to see in those moments when we were looking. They contain more than a few hints as to what we care about as artists, and who knows, may even point towards a future evolution.
Maddine and Joe
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