Enigma Landscapes (2008 - ongoing)

DON PENTZ R.C.A.

My "landscapes" are landscapes of the imagination. They come into being through a non-objective process of continually working and over-painting the texture of the canvas surface. Paint is pushed, scrubbed, scraped, and thinned to washes, somewhat imitating the natural elements that have shaped and stained the land. Through the manipulation of my materials I am drawn toward an unseen image, but in reality, the image appears out of the scars and pigments that have been left behind.

Drawn as I am to the more primal forms of the land - exposed granite, barren tundra, to name a few - black seemed like the ideal bare-bones choice to give expression to the simplified forms in this new body of work. Black has power and versatility, much like the land itself. The use of it in a two-colour palette, and the limits it would seem to impose, pushes one beyond familiar, overused image-making solutions. I wanted a change from my usual full-colour palette. I was curious to see how black, as a dominant colour, might alter my painting routines. Only one concession was made; the introduction of an earth stain. For me it represents the warmth of weathered stone pigmented by lichen or soil. It's fire or a mineral vein. It felt like a necessary accompaniment to give black another voice.

The canvas represents unknown land made up of a sky area and a land mass separated by a horizon line. This gives the over-all composition its connection to landscape. My process of painting is akin to an exploration or journey into uncharted territory. Confronted by unlimited possibility, I am free to randomly impose my art-making skills, and acting as my own force of nature, work the textured surface like a glacier ploughing and gouging its way over raw land. Like glacial striations, the image of marks and stains I leave behind is the record of my journey.

D. Pentz - 2010

Firebox
Acrylic on Canvas
60" x 80"

Line of Fire
Acrylic on Canvas
60" x 80"

Incarnate
Acrylic on Canvas
60" x 48"

Zart
Acrylic on Canvas
16" x 14"

Sali
Acrylic on Canvas
16" x 14"

Tiro
Acrylic on Canvas
16" x 14"

White Curve
Acrylic on Canvas
48" x 80"

Black Abstracto
Acrylic on Canvas
48" x 80"

Lines of Memory
Acrylic on Canvas
60" x 72"

Egnima Landscape #2
Acrylic on Canvas
16" x 14"

Egnima Landscape #1
Acrylic on Canvas
16" x 14"

Copper
Acrylic on Canvas
60" x 80"

Skin of the Land : Bones of the Earth
Acrylic on Canvas
60" x 120"

Mazu
Acrylic on Canvas
16" x 14"