In advance of a larger exhibition and publication scheduled for 2021-2022
Tom Uttech
New Paintings: A Preview
Tom Uttech New Paintings: A Preview
Head-Image
Uttech’s new paintings are divided roughly into three primary motifs: “Migrations,” in which the landscapes are inhabited with dense arrangements of flying birds; “Reflections,” the newest of his motifs, in which complex details of forest patterns are reflected in water; and “Panoramas,” in which the viewer looks out toward a distant horizon in a scene described by the critic Lucy Lippard where “the scrubby natural grandeur and spiritual power of this place is transmitted with extraordinary detail that transcends ordinary experience.”
His beloved “Migration” paintings, examples of which are in major American museums including Crystal Bridges, New Orleans and the Smithsonian, have given way to his most recent motif – “Reflection” paintings. Uttech recently said recalling reflections in still woodland waters: “Symmetry is life, it’s reality, and it’s spiritual. That is magic. Painting, hopefully can do that too.”
Onagaskwawai, 2020, oil on linen, 72 x 67 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nind Okwinomin, 2020, oil on linen, 41 x 43 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Obanite, 2020, oil on linen, 40 x 38 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nind Ombisse, 2020, oil on linen, 31 x 37 1/8 inches including artist's hand painted frame
“One senses the paintings are simultaneously real and mythical. Uttech is able to achieve this seemingly impossible synthesis because he never idealizes anything. Verisimilitude elevates the painting into a dimension where one must be highly attuned to both nuance and particularity. One must look again and again. We may finally be starting to see this world, this complex wilderness, but it has been watching us for a long time. ”
John Yau
Nin Nomageb, 2020, oil on linen, 46 3/4 x 50 3/4 inches, including artist's hand painted frame
“Uttech’s paintings encourage viewers to approach both the world depicted and the world beyond the gallery or city with a new awareness of nature’s voice. 'A marsh isn’t still at all. It’s an absolute cacophony of noise and activity. Frogs are croaking, yellow rails are ticking, geese are honking, all under moonlight with fog and stuff,' Uttech reminds us.”
Robert Cozzolino
Onagaskwawai, 2020, oil on linen, 72 x 67 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nin Nondeshima, 2019-2020, oil on panel, 17 3/4 X 15 1/2 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nin Nondetibikisitka, 2019-2020, oil on panel, 16 1/4 X 17 1/4 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nin Nondam, 2019-2020, oil on panel, 15 1/2 X 17 1/4 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Obanite, 2020, oil on linen, 40 x 38 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Ogidibig Gi-bimosse, 2020, oil on rag board, 19 1/4 x 17 1/2 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nind Ombisse, 2020, oil on linen, 31 x 37 1/8 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nind Okwinomin, 2020, oil on linen, 41 x 43 inches including artist's hand painted frame
Nin Nomageb, 2020, oil on linen, 46 3/4 x 50 3/4 inches, including artist's hand painted frame
Nin Nominikwetawa, 2020, oil on board, 13 5/8 x 14 7/8 inches, including artist's hand painted frame
Ogidigamig, 2020, oil on board, 16 1/2 X 17 1/2 inches including artist's hand painted frame