Beyond Paradise 1989

Eyvind Earle made this dreamy landscape, probably later in his life, using opaque paint. The way he's built up these dome-like trees with tiny, colorful marks is just mesmerizing. It's like he's creating a whole world through a meticulous, step-by-step process. Look closely at the way the light filters through the trees, creating these ethereal, misty layers. The paint isn’t trying to trick you into thinking it’s real life; it’s more like, hey, let's imagine a reality where color and light behave this way. There is a dark mass of the trunk of a tree in the front left. It is almost black, but on close inspection, there are dapples of green and yellow like light filtering through. This little detail adds so much. Earle’s work reminds me a bit of Milton Avery – that same commitment to simplifying forms and letting color do the talking. But Earle takes it to a whole other level of detail. It’s a reminder that art is this ongoing conversation, and everyone’s invited to join in and add their own voice.