The belief of 19th-century Americans in Manifest Destiny, their divine call to expand west in dominion over the continent, was given visual presence in the grand, theatrical, painted landscapes of Albert Bierstadt. Karen McWhorter, curator at the Whitney Western Art Museum, says, “Bierstadt’s paintings were cinematic before there was cinema.”

In his exhibition of new paintings, titled The Riparian Lovers, at Winston Wächter Fine Art in Seattle, Ethan Murrow continues to explore his “love-hate relationship with Bierstadt.”Clarion Call, high flow acrylic on board, 48 x 48"

In his painting Clarion Call, a flower bedecked canoeist paddles into a Bierstadt-esque landscape. Bierstadt’s paintings “are awe-inspiring, gorgeous depictions,” Murrow acknowledges, “but, of course, the Hudson River School perpetuated and invented many deeply flawed myths about this land we live on. I often try to negotiate my own complicity in the mess of America by inserting myself into these gloriously ‘whitewashed’ landscapes. My hope is that the inherent foolhardy nature of my characters exploits points to the utter impossibility of views like this existing without other context, concerns, histories and so on.” 

Commenting on a pervasive undercurrent of indifference to the natural world, he says, “During COVID, deep in my garden weeding, I realized it was one of the few places I could access a belief in a healthy future for my kids. Dirt under nails, worms and bugs aplenty, I was learning again about what was thriving and suffering in my own small yard. Maybe from small attachments and connections like this we can all be a bit better at taking care of what’s around us, including one another.”Convene, graphite on paper, 46 x 60"

He continues, “I started this work as a way to talk about beginning again, putting noses and hands in the soil, hooting and hollering because the world is still beautiful and flowers smell extraordinary even though so much of our planet is struggling. To suggest this need to embed ourselves in the earth I decided to exaggerate my statements with these excessive head pieces and absurd engagements with flowers and plants. That’s the clarion call: Put your nose in the dirt. It’s also a reminder to myself, because I forget that all the time.”The Starting Point, high flow acrylic on board, 48 x 36"

Known for his massive graphite drawings, as well as for films and books created with his wife, Vita, he comments on his use of color in this recent work, “The color really helps animate many of my concerns and ideas. It is often playful and filled with juicy optimism. The color and its ample choices challenge me deeply and force me to ask questions about tone and intent in ways I haven’t had to encounter in a while. The sheer complexity of managing both of these materials simultaneously is both highly demanding and healthy because I have to constantly juggle my conceptual and material goals.”  

The Riparian Lovers opens October 5 and continues through November 27. —

Winston Wächter Fine Art
203 Dexter Avenue North • Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 652-5855 • www.winstonwachter.com 

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