Petley Jones Gallery David Tycho: The River Series

David Tycho: The River Series

David Tycho

Abstracted renderings of the Fraser and Columbia rivers.

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 - Thursday, November 13th, 2008

THE RIVER SERIES

Turquoise, emerald and muddy brown waters tumble over sand, rock and ice, through canyons, valleys and flood plains, on their unstoppable journeys to the sea. The midday sun bleaches the sandy grey cliffs of central BC's parched Fraser canyon. Silver-green sagebrush and ochre bunchgrasses cling to narrow ledges along the Thompson. Sunsets paint the oxidizing basalt cliffs vermillion in Oregon's Owyhee canyonlands. Light, texture, mass, movement: these are the elements that inspire this series of paintings.
I have hiked, cycled, canoed, rafted, driven or camped along most major rivers and tributaries in BC, Washington and Oregon. I am drawn to them, just as our ancestors were for countless millennia. Rivers have provided us with water, food, transportation routes and power, and we owe our very existence to them. They have spawned single-celled organisms, and dynamic civilizations. They are etched into our collective unconscious as backdrops for religious tales, myths, legends, folklore and parables, in poems, stories, paintings, songs and films. They take on deity stature in many cultures.
My goal in painting this series is to celebrate, to draw attention to, and ultimately to help preserve these great waterways. My artistic process is to use rivers as starting points from which the paintings evolve and transform, often crossing the threshold between representation and abstraction, and becoming more symbolic or iconic than naturalistic.
I have never painted with more confidence or conviction than I did while doing this series. My hope is that these visual interpretations strike a chord in the viewer, and on that level, connect artist, viewer and subject. But enough talk—look at these paintings. Then go and listen to the river.
David Tycho
October, 2008

For information on the use and abuse of our rivers, and on the contentious B.C. Provincial Bill 30, please go to saveourivers.ca. There's something going on that all British Columbians should know about.

click on image to view larger work