California Hills 1989

Eyvind Earle made "California Hills," and immediately I'm struck by how he boils down a landscape to its essence, all done with incredible precision. Look at the mark-making; it’s almost like he’s invented a new way of seeing trees and hills. There's a beautiful road cutting through it all. It glows like a warm, surreal invitation. Earle's colours aren’t quite real, but they feel deeply familiar. The smooth surfaces give the piece a kind of serene, almost dreamlike quality. The dark, shadowy bushes are contrasted with the light green in the middle ground, and it gives the work a fantastic sense of depth. Each little blob that makes up those trees feels intentional, contributing to the overall rhythm and texture. Earle’s landscapes remind me a bit of David Hockney’s; both have a way of simplifying and exaggerating nature to make it feel more vivid. "California Hills" isn't trying to capture a literal scene, but rather a feeling, an idea of a place, leaving us space for our own interpretations.