Peak Perspective, 60x60” Acrylic on panel. 2022
PEAK PERSPECTIVE
A Solo Exhibition of New Works
by Sarah Winkler
February 18th - March 11th, 2023
Opening Night: Saturday, February 18th, 2023 5-8PM with the artist
Presented by Vail International Gallery, Vail, CO
What does the mountain teach?
To be tall, proud, strong, resilient, inspiring, awesome, magnificent, challenging, beautiful, steadfast, to reach for the stars, be heavenly, colorful, medicinal, to heal, to feed, to care for, provide for, to be a giver of life force energy, a beacon for navigation, provide constancy, eternity, steadfastness and stillness. Mountains have provided refuge to truth-seekers, hermits, adventurers and artists. With their beauty, mystery and transcendence, they can help lift our lives above the grit of the daily grind. You find deep peacefulness when spending time on a mountain. It is a unique feeling of calm and tranquility that you need to experience to understand. It filters through you, and stays with you for a time after you leave.
This new collection of paintings for Peak Perspective, my second solo show at Vail International Gallery, connects us to the organic textures, cyclical patterns of nature, the altitude and elevations in the terrain, the celestial skies, and color shifts of the Rocky Mountain ecosystem. I’m bringing the alpine forests into focus with new approaches to wood and tree textures from the shadowy magical pine groves to the bright and lively Fall Aspens accentuating their chalky birch barks. I’ve been experimenting with layering the painted sections of the forest outwards 3-dimensionally off the surface. Finding a balance between complexity and minimalism, abstraction and realism, as you move in and out of the picture.
The work glows with mica infused pigments, minerals and marble dust deposited into the layers of paint. The luminous color and dazzling textures capture enchanted snow capped peaks, plunge below ground into mineral veins, meander through the frozen watershed and forest floors. All the while chasing that elusive light of the Winter season.
