Feature paintings by: Ross Penhall, Photo by: Blaine Campbell
By Wade Kinley
The current exhibition at the West Vancouver Art Museum is a collection of paintings from West Vancouver’s very own Ross Penhall. Entitled Losing Control of the Landscape, this show is more than just a collection of landscape paintings, simply representing the natural world. Rather, it urges viewers to consider the delicate balance between the untamed, and undeniable, beauty of nature, and our human influence. What happens to that “wild’ picture under our gaze? Especially when our artists manipulate it through their own history, ideals and attitude?
Pehnall was born and raised on the West Coast and many of his paintings will be very familiar to anyone who has spent time in and around Howe Sound. As a kid he was always drawn outdoors, and that sense of freedom plays out in his work. Penhall often starts with photography and outdoor studies to capture a scene that catches his eye – very much “as is.” Then through exaggeration and abstraction Penhall invites us to see the poetry of what he sees, and at the same time leaves big, pastel-like colored spaces for our own interpretations.
“It’s the whole idea of me trying to control the landscape, which is a joke,” he says of this exhibition. “And then trying to paint it and make sense of it, make it convincing.” Often to dichotomous effect. “I find a mountain beautiful,” he says. “But also slightly menacing.”
Losing Control of the Landscape is on now at the West Vancouver Art Museum (680 17th Street, West Vancouver) and concludes with a free guided tour of the exhibition at 2 PM on December 16, 2023.
Take the #250 bus from West Georgia Street in Downtown Vancouver on to Marine Drive and 17th Street. The gallery is under a five minute walk from the stop.