Father’s Daugher 2020

Mark Maggiori, who was born in 1977, painted "Father’s Daughter" with oils, and you can almost smell the solvent. There's this quality to his art which reminds me of growing up looking through old books; the density of tone is extraordinary. Look how the bulk of the cumulus gathers in the centre of the work, casting the mountain range into shadow, but illuminating the foreground. Maggiori has brought the landscape right up into the front of the frame. Those creamy blossoms in the lower section give a wonderful sense of the atmosphere. There's something about the stillness of the figures which gets me. Both father and daughter are caught in the same pose. I see the influence of Maynard Dixon here, a wonderful regionalist painter. Both artists are engaged in a conversation about the myth of the West, the cowboy figure, and the vast landscapes which define that experience.