Lifeboat 1998

Bo Bartlett’s ‘Lifeboat’ is a painting made with oil, and it really captures this feeling of being tossed around by something bigger than yourself, doesn’t it? The waves, the way the boat is tilting, you can almost feel the push and pull. Look at how the colors in the water swirl together, from deep greens to foamy whites, each stroke seems to build up the drama. The figure in the boat is painted with such precision, every muscle feels tight with effort. There is a tension in the water, you can feel it coming for you, rising up. It puts me in mind of Winslow Homer's paintings, those big, dramatic scenes of people against the ocean. Both artists are doing something similar, thinking about humans and their relationship to the natural world, and not in a polite way, but in a very raw, immediate sense. It’s not just a picture, it’s an experience, and, like a lot of good art, there’s no one way to read it.