Fall Exhibitions October 6 through December 16, 2017
Sailing, 2006 Oil on canvas 18 x 24 inches
Off Road Vehicle, 1997 Oil on board 22 x 18.5 inches
CLIFFORD WILTON The work you see around you is the evidence of a man, my father, who, at the age of about 50 rediscovered his passion for art making. Painting was a pursuit that he had postponed since the age of 19. In the interim, Cliff s creativity was evident in his professional life in the creation of print, radio and television ad campaigns done in tandem with the advertising agency, Wilton Coombs and Colnett that Cliff founded when first moving to San Francisco in 1960. However about 30 years later what began as a curiosity became a reality when during a Christmas break from the 9 5 work week of his agency, Cliff attended an art workshop taught by figurative painter, Dan McCaw. This workshop ignited Cliff s interest and passion for painting. The occasional still lifes increased in number till they became an unstoppable stream of paintings. From the onset, Cliff s new work was always done with an almost reckless abandon and an unbridled passion. This re discovery of the part of himself that had remained unseen till much later in his life was accompanied with no small degree of happiness. Simply said, making art suited my father. This creative expression, once revealed, became an authentic and essential reference point for Cliff s life and he simply never let up. There was much to do. Time, as he put it, was of the essence. It was simply time to get to work. From that day onwards Cliff was in pursuit. His earlier work was of still lifes and models from painting classes he voraciously attended. Cliff s work was loose and interpretive in style from the start, an admission he explained by saying he was not interested in painting what was before him but rather the feeling of what was before him. As his work progressed, he moved out of the classroom into Nature. He further developed his impromptu use of color en plein air, standing for many hours before a Julian easel working in oil paint on small boards in the pastoral landscapes of Northern California and Colorado. Green Figure, c. 2003 Oil on canvas 20 x 23.75 inches
His work, like the man, has always had a sense of urgency. The mark making became more and more uninhibited, bold and risky. Before long, Cliff s small landscape studies grew in scale, so much so that he returned to painting in a studio. He used photographs, small painted studies and primarily memory to continue on with his paintings of landscapes that now, were becoming more abstract. The chance discovery of new subject matter, in the form of an old abandoned car in a Colorado field catalyzed Cliff s break from realism to abstraction. Junker cars as he named them, abandoned and decomposing, freed him from the tyranny as he described it, of painting recognizable things from life. The smashed automobile bodies were compressed and distorted so much that they became more an abstraction of a car than an actual car. It was for him, an easy segue into abstraction. It was this kind of thinking that Cliff then pursued in almost all his later work. There might be an incidental hint of something realistic but overall as he put it I am interested in painting first, and subject matter second. His later explorations of tree branches, telephone lines, cut logs of firewood, thistles, artichokes and landscapes followed this course. They are testaments of a rigorous color search. The work shows deep investigation of form and space done by an artist brimming with determination, passion and curiosity. The arc of s art, exhibited here today, forms a beautiful line. One that meanders at times and at others, abruptly changes directions. It twists and turns and alternates between faint and bold. Cliff s path, this line, if viewed from beginning to end, shows the evidence of an extraordinary inquiry and ultimately a fiery, passionate celebration of self-discovery and reclamation. NICHOLAS WILTON August 8, 2017 Sausalito, California Paint Can, 1980s Oil on board 14 x 15 inches ABOUT THE WRITER: Nicholas Wilton is the son of the late. Like his father, he too is an artist. His large abstract paintings can be seen at www.nicholaswilton.com. His weekly blog on creativity and art-making can be found at www.art2life.com.
Open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Museum: 541-552-6245 Email: sma@sou.edu Web: sma.sou.edu Social Media: SchneiderMoA ON THE COVER: Abstract 367, 2009 Oil on board 49 x 80 inches