The Ever-Changing Evolution of Landscapes
Capturing the Moment of Last Shadow and
First Light with Artist Robin Gowen
By Roger Durling | Photos by Ingrid Bostrom
June 1, 2023
“You need to feel you’re in danger in order to do good work,” states Robin Gowen, early in our conversation. “Painters deal in jeopardy. We must make things that are not safe, that will be a surprise and a discovery — to the artist as much as the observer. Without that desire to take risks, painting can become pretty and predictable.”
It is the presence of urgency and conflict in all of Gowen’s work that has made me an ardent admirer. She is a Santa Barbara artist who deserves overdue prominence. Gowen is Sullivan Goss’s longest-represented artist and is currently exhibiting her 12th solo show at the gallery. Titled Last Shadow & First Light, this expansive exhibition — more than 30 paintings on display until July 24 — coincides with the announcement of a new monograph surveying the career of the artist.
The show can be evenly divided into two groups of landscapes, and there’s an inciting dialectic amongst them. Some works depict a California during the drought, while others showcase topographies after the recently welcomed yet unexpected downpours. In the paintings representing the drier geography, Gowen manages to convey an insistent tussle coming from all the compromises that have to be made in order for the vegetation to survive.
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