Many landscape painters tend toward what is pretty and picturesque. But not West Virginia artist Lynn Boggess. As explained by his wife, Jennifer, Boggess is “drawn to broken trees, wind-swept rubble, great boulders, and flood water.” He wants to capture what is raw and real, which is one reason why he replaced his paintbrushes with a cement trowel back in the early aughts. The trowel “afforded him an immediacy that a brush could not,” allowing Boggess to work on location and capture scenes as they are — not how he hopes them to be. What results tiptoes between a painting and a sculpture, providing onlookers with a visceral sense of the scene. “To the casual viewer, there is a fascination with the fact that the work appears photographic at fifteen feet away, while at two feet, it is a complex arrangement of large strokes of the trowel,” Jennifer writes. “To those who have an appreciation for the natural world, there is a purity in the subject, which denies all references to human interference.” For the 18th year running, Boggess will bring new work to The Haen Gallery on Biltmore Avenue during a solo show this fall.
18th Annual Lynn Boggess Exhibition: Through November 30
The Haen Gallery / 52 Biltmore Ave., Asheville / thehaengallery.com