Rio Grande Cottonwood Tree 

Editor: Here we have what seems to be a landscape painting, “Rio Grande Cottonwood Tree” by Mark Beck. I'm not sure of the date. What immediately strikes me is the artist's careful rendering of texture – you can almost feel the rough bark of the tree. What do you make of it? Curator: I’m interested in the labour that goes into producing a painting like this, and how it participates in the economy of art. Consider the support structure itself; the canvas, stretched and primed. Someone had to prepare that surface to receive the pigment. What is the source of the pigment? Editor: So you are focusing on the artist’s process of production… Curator: Precisely! Each visible brushstroke represents labor. The very act of depicting a scene like this participates in a certain history of landscape painting, a tradition steeped in land ownership and its value. The depiction flattens the material reality of this tree to a picturesque image to be consumed. Editor: Interesting. I hadn't considered it in terms of consumption before, only really considered the art for art's sake aspect. Curator: The very subject, a lone cottonwood, speaks volumes about material existence. It requires land, water, and sunlight to survive. Look at those broad strokes of the painter. One needs the tools to execute the work and then, one asks where these materials came from and at what cost. Does the making of the painting itself put a stress on these environmental factors that also play a part in the painting's subject's creation and existence? Editor: It changes my perception completely. Seeing art this way can make you question so many things. Curator: Exactly! Recognizing the social and material underpinnings of art allows us to see beyond the surface. Editor: I'll definitely be more aware of those aspects when I look at art in the future! Thank you.