Esteemed landscape artist Gordon Fowler is native to Austin, Texas, and has spent the majority of his life and his prolific artistic career admiring the grit of the state’s natural scenery. In the upcoming show Texas: An Abstract Landscape at Wally Workman Gallery, Fowler will feature more than 20 new oil paintings that explore Texas Hill Country.
Winters Lace, oil on canvas panel, 30 x 40"Collectors of Fowler’s work, David and Stevenie Frye, have said that the artist “captures beautiful images of harsh scenery without romanticizing it.” This description is quite accurate, as Fowler tries to convey “more than a pretty picture.”
“Hill Country is kind of wild and woolly,” he says, “and I’m trying to paint what I feel about what’s all around me all the time and I don’t have to go very far to do that. This is not mid-century abstract painting, but stuff I know and feel. I’m not making it soft and easy to live with. The more I let it be myself, the more people seem to like it.”
This ruggedness is present in pieces like Texas Prickly, depicting an abstracted view of a large prickly pear patch. “I painted this because of the abstract shapes in such a large grouping, and it’s also tough and very real,” Fowler says. “A lot of the time people will avoid something like this and walk around it, but I like when [a scene] is rough and tumble.”
Honey Creek, oil on canvas panel, 30 x 40"
Besides his proclivity to the wildness of the Texas landscape, Fowler is drawn to big, simple shapes in his pieces, such as in Honey Creek. The scene is from the Boerne region, featuring the creek that feeds into the Guadalupe River. “It’s a spring-fed creek that you can only visit on a tour,” he says. “I look for simple shapes like this, and it can be more about the trees, creek or how the light may work. It’s a compositional idea more than anything else.”
Blues on the Loop, oil on canvas panel, 14 x 18"Fowler makes it a point to actually experience the scenes he paints. “I go out and sketch all over the place and look for different times of day” he says. “If I have the time, I’ll do a quick study in watercolor. [Works in the show] are places I’ve first sketched over the years, and I’ve gone back to these locations several times. Texas doesn’t have a lot of public land, so it’s hard to find good spots without having to get permission.” Although Fowler has been permitted to explore endangered areas, he also sticks to places that can be just off the side of a road.
Texas Prickly, oil on canvas panel, 14 x 18"The inspiration behind Winters Lace, of a barren-looking tree with a colorful mountainscape in the background, started with one such “side of the road” sort of stops. “I was driving one day in the beautiful hill country of Leakey, Texas, and I saw a wild place along the road and there was a lacy-looking tree,” says Fowler. “Through the tree, you can see the mountain on the other side of the Frio River. You never know what’s going to inspire you. I wasn’t even going to paint that day but wound up with three good painting ideas from that experience.” The artist will often take photographs for references but even prefers his photos to be “rough,” so as to be more of a challenge.
Wally Workman Gallery is excitedly hosting the artist’s new work starting April 2 through May 1, with Fowler hoping to convey and shift his own feelings to the viewer. —
Wally Workman Gallery
1202 W. 6th Street • Austin, TX 78703 • (512) 472-7428
www.wallyworkmangallery.com
Powered by Froala Editor
