In my eyes, Andy Cline's paintings bring some fresh air and ironic commentary into a Gallery that doesn't always grab me. To my excitement, it would appear that Mr. Dudley Dana is gathering into his arsenal some younger, upcoming artists, including Artmelt favorite, Courtney Blazon.
Cline's paintings are about as photo realistic as you get, however I still wouldn't say he is any Richard Estes. I find the images, although technically masterful, to be a bit dry in appearance. The compositions are pretty calm and frontal with hardly a diagonal to be found. "A Pack of Resting Semis" is barely the exception as the shadow from a large sign enters from behind the viewer and takes you into the scene. Generally, most of the compositions are sweeping vistas with the interstate laid out in front of you. Perhaps there is a truck on the road, or in "Cruise Control" the view is completely empty minus the road and the sky. While Estes' crowded scenes reflect the fast pace of the city, Kline's spacious paintings capture the feeling of being on the interstate in the Big Sky. Ahh the open road...certainly one of the reasons I love driving in Montana.
The titles do add a touch of humor to the otherwise dry, empty, meditative, spacious images. Names like "Oh Deer" beget images of dead deer on the side of the road. "At Least We'll Have a Ski Resort In Our Backyard" ironically describes an image of a run down trailer, with beat up vehicles framing in the decrepit "homestead", and the controversial Bitterroot Resort looming in the background. As mentioned before, "A Pack of Resting Semis" compares the big rigs of the road to the wildlife that inhabit the surrounding landscape.
To me this is the best part of the show. The elk, bears, and fish that generally fill the gallery are now being replaced by the real Montana - semis, cars, and open roads instead of open meadows. I say real Montana, because we often get this romantic portrait of elk calm, un-startled-by-your-presence grazing in a meadow, yet every hunter knows that this not the way you generally find these majestic creatures (if you can find them at all).
Ironic the titles may be, but even better is that in a gallery surrounded by romantic images of nature we find an artists saying "that is not Montana", here is a semi to replace your elk, here is a junk pile instead of a forest, a beat up car instead of a horse, a dead dear, a logging trailer, the road...
More pics after the jump
Is that a photograph?
"A Popular Watering Hole "
"A Popular Watering Hole" - detail
"A Popular Watering Hole" - detail
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