Hurricane Season 2011

Bo Bartlett made this painting, Hurricane Season, with oil on linen and what strikes me is how traditional the materials are but the way he uses them is super contemporary. The paint is applied in thin, almost transparent layers, giving it a luminous quality, especially in the sky and water. But then you notice the beach itself, and that’s where the painting gets really interesting. The surface is rough, almost crusty, like the sand has been mixed right in with the paint, which makes me think of realism with a twist, it makes me think of a painting that knows it's a painting. Take a look at the way Bartlett renders the figures, it’s like he is consciously playing with art historical tropes, from classical sculpture to early American portraiture. It reminds me a bit of the work of Alex Katz, another artist who is interested in the way that painting can capture a certain kind of American cool. In the end, these paintings resist easy interpretation. The hurricane season may be a time of storms, but it is also a time of great beauty and change.