Bowels 1924

Nicholas Roerich made this painting, Bowels, with what seems like tempera or gouache, but who knows? The painting’s mark making appears to me to be about process. The colors feel moody; a limited range creates a spiritual interiority. It's almost like a stage set, with that little figure down front, but really this is about the materiality of paint. I’m thinking of the layering of thin washes, the opacity of the whites and the translucent shadows. I'm drawn to that stark white form in the cave mouth. It’s built up from repeated brushstrokes that evoke form and light. The paint is dry and chalky, not really hiding itself. Roerich reminds me a bit of Marsden Hartley, both were interested in landscape as a psychological space, and both had a similar symbolic language of simplified shapes. Art is always a kind of search. What are we looking for? It's probably different for everyone. Roerich’s search embraces the unknown.