Study for Aqua Spring 1997

Neil Welliver made this square landscape painting of a snowy, rocky scene. It is built with distinct and separate brushstrokes. I imagine Welliver outside in the cold, trying to capture that sense of stillness that comes after a heavy snowfall. The whole scene is built from a mosaic of small slabs of colour. Look how the white paint sits on the canvas, built up in layers. He’s not trying to trick you into thinking this is anything other than paint. It's like he’s saying, “Okay, this is white, this is how white sits next to gray, this is how that feels.” The dark green of the trees in the background is such a contrast to the blues, grays and whites of the ice and snow. It’s easy to see the influence of someone like Fairfield Porter here. All painters are in conversation with one another. Welliver shows us how painting can allow us to experience and interpret the world in new and unexpected ways.