WORK OF THE WEEK: "Far and Wide" by Joseph McGurl

Joseph McGurl
Far and Wide
oil on canvas
28 x 46 inches

As artist Joseph McGurl explains, "Far and Wide was inspired after spending a couple of weeks on my boat anchored in Nantucket Harbor. I spent several days exploring and sketching on land and from an inflatable dinghy the dunes and marshes of Coatue. There is no exact location for this scene as it is composed from a synthesis of different sketches and impressions. What I was interested in was conveying the great sense of space, freedom, and desolation I experienced while there. In addition to these features, the painting also considers time because we often link time and space.  Speed x distance equals time. How long will it take me to walk to that distant dune? Unique places such as Coatue always give me an opportunity to contemplate the more sublet aspects of our existence and incorporate them into a work of art that goes beyond a literal transcription of the scene."

Joseph McGurl was born in Massachusetts in 1958. He graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and studied in England and Italy. McGurl synthesizes academic figure drawing skills with sight-size landscape painting resulting in a new and unique approach to addressing the landscape. McGurl’s paintings may be considered philosophically modernist extensions of the 19th century Luminist painters. His interest in physics and the nature of reality has resulted in a thoroughly modern approach to style and subject. While retaining the modernist’s graphic design sensibility and individuality of message, he departs from post contemporary modernist forms by subverting the ego of the artist to achieve greater fidelity to nature. He is one of the few contemporary realists who does not include the use of photography in his art. McGurl is a devoted plein air painter which allows him to connect with the landscape on a profound level and gain a deeper understanding of his subject. Although the objects depicted in the paintings are elements of the landscape and have a deep, personal meaning to him, of equal importance is an exploration of light, form, space, and color interpreted through paint.

McGurl’s paintings have been included in several museum exhibitions in Massachusetts, New York, California, and Rhode Island as well as being exhibited in numerous group museum exhibitions which traveled throughout the country. He has had retrospective solo shows at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, The Cahoon Museum of American Art, and the Saint Botolph Club of Boston. The Arnot Art Museum’s Representing Representation, a survey of the most significant representational work being done today, included his work as an example of contemporary landscape painting. He is in the collections of the New Britain Museum of American Art, The Cape Cod Museum of Art, The Mellon Collection, The Forbes Collection, Sen. John Kerry, and the Cahoon Museum of American Art. McGurl has been designated a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center in New York. He has been elected to the Guild of Boston Artists, was a Copley Master with the Copley Society of Boston, and is a signature member of the prestigious Plein Air Painters of America. His many awards include the Guild of Boston Artists Gold Medallion, The Art Renewal Center’s International Salon First Place in Landscape, American Fine Art Magazine Award of Excellence, The Rehs Award, a Purchase Award, and the John Singleton Copley Award for Artistic Achievement.

Contact us for pricing and inquiries about this work: 203.869.3664 or art@cavaliergalleries.com.