three Wyeths

I walked around the gallery at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art looking at the paintings and watercolors. N.C.’s work always grabbed me with its emotion captured in the form of people moving or the shadows and staring eyes. His paintings looked so fresh and alive there. Jamie’s works interspersed stood each with a unique set of circumstance, light, and subject, real as well as surreal. It didn’t feel competitive. I was afraid I would find myself comparing styles or looking for threads of genetic brushstroke techniques. Andrew's works, the most plentiful, paintings and those incredible seemingly minimal but highly complex watercolors. I thought of all the sketches that came before all this work, all the hand studies, hair, and shoes, wood grain, and pine needles. “Battleground” is an old familiar painting that hangs in the Nelson usually. Really felt good here amid all these family friends, these beautiful moments, these delicious colors, and stark landscapes. I remember visiting Chadds Ford many times as a kid, closed my eyes and remembered that landscape, but realized I was just remembering a few Wyeths that weren’t here after all.