The Blue Pool 1980

Neil Welliver's "The Blue Pool" presents a dense landscape rendered with a disarming flatness, challenging traditional perspectival depth. The composition sprawls, filled with fractured planes of whites and greens. Linear elements such as the bare trees and fallen branch introduce a structural counterpoint to the broad masses of rock, while also flattening the depth of the image. The limited palette focuses attention on the forms themselves, abstracting the landscape into a series of shapes and textures. Welliver disrupts conventional landscape painting by emphasizing surface over depth. The overall effect challenges our perception, pushing against traditional artistic boundaries. The 'blue pool' itself is a minimal presence in the landscape, reduced to a mere structural element. In doing so, it invites us to reconsider our expectations and engage with a new visual language.