Landscape 

Curator: This piece, titled "Landscape," is attributed to Forrest Bess. Though undated, its style firmly situates it within the abstract expressionist movement. Editor: It's a dense little painting, isn't it? That impasto is so thick. Almost sculptural. Curator: Yes, Bess employed matter painting techniques. You see the generous application of oil paint building up texture on the canvas. This approach to material undoubtedly reflects post-war anxieties and interests. It's as if he’s attempting to ground transcendental themes into tactile materiality. Editor: I can feel that sense of being grounded here. But look how the colors compete; earthy browns against striking blues and greens. Is it really "landscape" if the perspective is so skewed, so emotional? Curator: That is precisely what sets Bess apart within the Abstract Expressionist milieu. It's as though he sought to visualize personal mythologies through landscape conventions. The title serves almost ironically. In the post-war period, the use of pure abstraction signaled an artist's autonomy from established norms. Editor: Right, because naive art and symbolism were both considered "outsider." But what does it mean to build a bridge like this between social concepts of land and personal experience by pushing so much pigment around? Bess almost transforms painting from representation to artifact, a dense material document. Curator: Absolutely. I believe "Landscape" makes clear the political implication of artistic agency through raw material expression in its break from art traditions of its time. Bess didn't attend exhibitions regularly, preferring his own interpretation of culture. Editor: I'd never considered the socio-political charge in all those gobs of paint before, like an expression of working toward an internal space, then making it viscerally, publicly manifest. Fascinating. Curator: Indeed. Bess presents us a fascinating opportunity to examine the historical positionality of abstract works and how artists have been able to redefine aesthetic expectations through unconventional forms and processes. Editor: Well, I’ll certainly be more aware now of labor when I see this piece! It gives the concept a lot more depth.