RUPERT DEESE
February 27 - March 24 , 2004 - Merced and Tuolumne Rivers Series - Col Series
Rupert Deese, New York, Studio, 2004	Rupert Deese, New York, Studio, 2004
Rupert Deese, New York, Studio, 2004	Rupert Deese, New York, Studio, 2004
Rupert Deese, New York, Studio, 2004	Rupert Deese, New York, Studio, 2004
Rupert Deese's new series of six circular paintings, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers--51 inches in diameter, faced with 234 plywood tiles, backed with fiberglass and epoxy resin--are oil on plywood, which has been shaped and cut and faceted by the artist to echo the shape of the mountainous watershed areas surrounding the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers in California. Deese was born in California, and often returns to the landscape that kindled his mind and imagination while growing up. The rivers and mountains provide infinite opportunities for the artist, combining meditative abstract painting with a careful rendering of the landscape, a unique approach.
Rupert Deese, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers/1, oil on plywood, 51 inches diameter, 2004
Rupert Deese, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers/2, oil on plywood, 51 inches diameter, 2004
Rupert Deese, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers/4, oil on plywood, 51 inches diameter, 2004
Rupert Deese, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers/3, oil on plywood, 51 inches diameter, 2004
Rupert Deese, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers/5, oil on plywood, 51 inches diameter, 2004
Rupert Deese, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers/6, oil on plywood, 51 inches diameter, 2004
Rupert Deese, Col/2, oil on plywood, 18 x 20 x 2 inches, 2003	Rupert Deese, Col/3, oil on plywood, 18 x 20 x 2 inches, 2003
While abstract in configuration, pure in shape and color, the paintings begin with nature as their source. Each of the works in this series is a tondo and each a single color distilled from nature--be it the deep reddish-brown of red fir bark or the yellow-green of alpine lichens. And finally each is faceted like a jewel with fan-shaped tiles of equal area, which the artist cuts with a table saw or router-cuts along templates. Rupert Deese says of his process: "The 1/8th inch thick tiles are glued, edge to edge, as they are pressed onto a mold/model of the terrain. Each painting is about 1/4 inch thick at the edge and about 3/4 inch thick at the center." Rupert Deese writes of these paintings: "The title of this series of paintings, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers, refers to the source of their shape: the headwaters of the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Each circular disc encompasses about 2,700 square miles of landscape and indicates the first 50 miles of each river's course. "The modeled surfaces of the paintings present, on a small scale, the surface structures of the mountainous watershed areas surrounding these two parallel rivers. Each composition restates proportionally the contours of the ranges, the intervals between the branch-like tributaries, and the angles of the valley walls in a radial tiling pattern made up of 254 arc-shaped plywood tiles."
Rupert Deese, Col/7, oil on plywood, 18 x 20 x 2 inches, 2003	Rupert Deese, Col/5, oil on plywood, 18 x 20 x 2 inches, 2003
The Col series--hexagonal in shape, each built of 54 triangular units--is inspired by and refers to a mountain pass between the two watersheds described above. Rupert Deese writes: "The left edge of a Col painting dips into the Merced River near Yosemite Valley. The right edge dips into the Tuolumne River, near the Hetch Hetchy Valley, now a reservoir for San Francisco." The Col series is orchestrated around a rise in the landscape rather than a bowl, unique for Deese in his work.
Rupert Deese, Merced Tuolumne (Yellow Green), oil on plywood, 36 x 36 x 2 inches, 2003	Rupert Deese, Seven Waves (Yellow Green), oil on plywood, 36 x 36 x 2 inches, 2003
Rupert Deese's discs and hexagons float on the wall in bas-relief, altering our perception of the rectilinear space surrounding them, while conjuring vast mountain ranges, rivers and vistas of nature at its purest and most meditative. Rupert Deese was born in Upland, California in 1952. He received his M.F.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He was artist-in-residence at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas. His work has been shown at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Connecticut; American Academy of Sciences, New York; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock; Art in Embassies Program, United States Department of State (South Korea); The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas; Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California; Kohler Arts Center, Wisconsin; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno; New York State Museum, Albany; University Art Museum, State University of New York, Binghamton. His work is included in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno; Dow Jones and Prudential, both of New Jersey.