Gimme land, lots of land

Spring is landscape season. And while landscapes have sometimes been maligned as the province of the uninspired, the precariousness of our landscape makes it a serious topic for serious artists.

Lee Morgan, “Wisteria House”

I still mourn the fat, spotted pony on a grassy hillside near the spot where Highway 74A starts. His pasture was flattened 10 years ago for a grocery store. The rows of plump cabbages in the bottomland across the road have given way to shops and a defunct “diner.” The majestic poplars that shaded Mine Hole Gap are long gone, and the pasture beside Cane Creek, where a big old Leopard Appaloosa has lived in a weathered barn for years, is now littered with pickup trucks and heavy equipment. And this is just my little corner of our world. Could it be that all artists should be madly painting and photographing landscape so that there could be some record of our pre-greed world?

There is no shortage of landscape painting and photographing in our area. Two photographers exhibiting at Woolworth Walk have a particular affinity for their surroundings. Lee Morgan works mostly in color. Sometimes it can be difficult to categorize Morgan’s work—most of it fits easily into the nature category, but a few of his works could be termed nostalgic, or, in the case of “I’ll Be Around,” surreal. This black-and-white photo shows a tree growing through the space where the engine used to sit in a big chunky car from the early ‘50s. Is Camille Paglia right? Does nature always win?

John Hooks, “Still Water,” acrylic, 19 1/2” by 19 1/2”

“Wisteria House” depicts a deserted farmhouse, still partially covered with sheets of 1940s faux-red-brick asbestos siding. The stone chimney has provided a trellis for flowering wisteria which cascades over the roof.

Morgan proves his skill in composition with a picture of brilliant autumn foliage bisected by the strong verticals of dark tree trunks. His ability to project color is confirmed in a close-up of bright blue bachelor buttons and red poppies in his “Carolina Barn.”

Steve Dixon captures high drama in his black-and-white photographs. His work with extraordinary cloud formations is outstanding. In “Sunrise at Glassman Falls,” a receding full moon dances through wispy clouds, and his stark “Moonscape at Max Patch” shows us a stubby tree rising bravely from the snow. In a softer mood, Dixon depicts a foggy mountain path.

Jane Desonier is the featured artist at Asheville Gallery of Art. Her subdued palette seems to predict the disappearance of her subject matter. Also in the co-op gallery, John Hooks has painted a frosty blue winter scene. Titled “Still Water,” it features a leafless tree silhouetted against a snow-covered hill and an icy blue sky. Sandra Brugh Moore clearly has a special feeling about her “Grandfather Gathering.” The painting is one of the smallest in the gallery, but the strong horizontal line of tents standing before the majestic backdrop of mountains holds its own in the company of much larger works.

Ron Ogle, “Cold Mountain Series” (No. 3), oil on board, 18” by 24”

Ron Ogle is an artist who has long expressed his love for our area and his concern for the earth. For years, he stapled and pasted environmental information around town. He braved threats of prosecution for “defacing public property” when he created a huge collage about global warming and defoliation on a wooden fence on Biltmore Avenue.

In the Greenlife Grocery café, Ogle is exhibiting paintings of the mountain vistas he has tried to protect. Every ridge is accurate, and every valley and cove is exact. The colors are lively and representations precise. Still, the paintings maintain a lively freshness. His concern is genuine.

[Connie Bostic is an Asheville-based painter and writer.]

Jane Desonier, John Hooks, and Sandra Brugh Moore are members of the Asheville Gallery of Art and exhibit there. Steve Dixon and Lee Morgan have spaces at Woolworth Walk, where Morgan will be a featured artist this month. Ron Ogle’s landscapes will hang in the cafe at Greenlife through April.