Arthur McCall
The
Ranch
Acrylic on Panel
24” x 18”
$1,155
Hidden in the
backwoods of our nostalgic memory lies a dormant thought awakened by a quick
jolt of visual appeasement. Arthur McCall is one such artist that has that
ability to stimulate our reminiscent reflections of our ancestors. Described as
a painter of “Nostalgic landscapes”, Arthur depicts country-time scenes that
hearken back to the times of a pre industrial era; a rugged living dictated by
the seasons not the clock, farmhouses before factory farming and open
communities before gated ones.
….“Paintings that remind us of the place we
went hunting with Uncle Joe, or the place Granddad used to own, or the family
ranch. Each one striking a cord within us all to a place and time we have only
maybe heard about in long winded stories from Aunt Ruthie at Christmastime, but
none the less awe inspiring and seemingly important in a family lineage kind of
way.”
A retired Game Warden for the state of Texas, Arthur spent most
of his adult life outside, dealing with farmhands, poachers, cowboys,
immigrants, hunters, and “good ol’ country boys”. This genial living taught Arthur many life
lessons, but everything about his stoic profession shaped who he was and who he
became. An armed artist with a charismatic lifestyle that mirrors his ability
to capture the Texas
terrain, Arthur used his camera daily to record the likings he saw while in the
field.
“The Ranch”, an
acrylic painting on panel measuring 24” x 18” is a wonderful new release from
Arthur McCall that demonstrates a new found ability in patience. The success of the painting lies in the
conclusion that since his retirement Arthur is spending more time with each
painting; working on subtle as well as intense details, reexamining the overall
vegetation clusters, adding more character to the houses, building and barns-
all the while maintaining his airy integrity. Still impressionistic, the
compositional layers of images make for a simple analysis. Foreground, middle,
and background all lead into another; creating a cohesive course of gestalt-ian flow.
Vibrant white and
yellow budding flowers spot the landscape leading up to the secluded stable,
like scattered airplane runway lights- glowing in painterly luminescence, showing
us the way into the darkened abyss of our over stimulated techno world. A broken carriage with wooden wheels and
springboard seating demands our attention-a possible metaphor of a larger
broken society; showing progress at any point in time is always overrun by
emerging technologies, must-haves to make our lives better. Seated yards away
from the wagon up on the hill sits an open faced barn; missing shingles, slats
as well as inhabitants – it subsists until the end of its time when it will
eventually collapse under its own damaged, weathered, and worn out existence. (Insert onomatopoeia-like alliteration
reference for our own lives)
However, peaking
above the low level architecture, perched on the left side of the composition
sits a signatory windmill. Operating with only its own liveliness and no one to
celebrate its fruits of labor, it spins freely as an open air ornament to a
sense of wistfulness while wispy clouds pass ever so quietly in the evening
sun.
And, yes there are the
obligatory bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes, but the cliché Texas landscape flowers
play a less important role to this painting, allowing the other ingredients to breathe
live into a mnemonic melancholy memory of time and space.
©Gabriel Diego Delgado
