For
the Chicago Art Fair Ken Moylan created an image of a great American landscape,
that of YOSEMITE VALLEY, a subject he has painted before. In this work,
his most ambitious painting of the landscape Albert Bierstadt and Ansel
Adams studied and depicted for a lifetime, Moylan invites the viewer to
peer through an arched window. In contrast to the angular and rectilinear
doorways the artist has used to depict Venice-scapes, the arched top window
creates new compositional challenges. Moylan has been to Yosemite to experience
its grandeur. He worked from his own photographs taken from the West, looking
East, to create this painting, incorporating the majesty of the peaks and
valley, capturing the power of this natural phenomenon. Included in the
painting are some of the most famous landmarks of Yosemite: Bridalveil Falls,
one of many falls feeding the Merced River which meanders through the valley
floor. In the center of the painting rise the Cathedral Spires, and in the
back right one can see the silhouette of Yosemite's Half Dome.
The technical aspect of Moylan's work is unique. He first creates a structure
in perspective, be it a window or a doorway. He then does his own inlay
work, intarsia in wood, as well as building up surfaces with masonite, acrylic,
and gesso, which he carves to give the illusion of old walls with plaster
doorframes or window ledges. The artist makes a drawing of his subject,
in this case the mountains and valley, and then transfers the drawing onto
a masonite panel, Moylan's preferred surface. He then paints the image in
many layers of oil to finally realize the splendor of color in the completed
painting. The combination of image, architecture, perspective, rich and
varied surface contribute to the impact of Moylan's work.
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