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PrintBright Colors, Big sales
Just because you might not find a green wolf in the wild doesn’t mean an artist hasn’t thought of it … or that it hasn’t made its way into a museum or collection
Carrie Fell embraces electric hues in Wild Moose, a 54-by-54-inch acrylic and oil painting.
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The animal world is intense these days: neon blues, hot pinks, supernatural greens. And galleries and collectors—even those not so interested in contemporary art—are responding. “Over the last decade, I’ve seen people walk in, buy something very traditional—something that fits with their collection—and then also buy a contemporary wildlife piece just because they were drawn to the vivid colors,” says Pam Flores, gallery director at Mountain Trails. “Ten years ago, I didn’t see this, whether because fewer artists were painting with bright colors or collectors weren’t ready for it.”
One of the most popular palettes in the valley belongs to painter Amy Ringholz. (She was voted “Best Established Artist” in the JH Weekly’s 2010 Best of JH survey over well-known photographer Tom Mangelsen and fellow wildlife painter September Vhay and was chosen as one of Southwest Art’s “21 Under 31” Emerging Artists of 2006.) Based in Jackson and represented by Altamira Fine Art, Ringholz’s take on her wildlife subjects is lighthearted, expressionistic, and completely her own. See one Ringholz painting and you can recognize others from a mile away. Still, it’s her color selection that draws people in. “Color is my best friend,” Ringholz says. “When people are attracted to my work, one of the first elements of that attraction are my colors.” Yes, there are Western-inspired earth tones in Ringholz’s animals, but there are more reds, turquoises, yellows, greens, oranges and pinks. And it’s these bright colors you notice first … especially when the latter two—perhaps with some touches of turquoise—make up most of the face of a moose (American Idol, oil on canvas, 48 by 72 inches).
Ringholz isn’t revolutionary for her palette though. John Nieto, a New Mexican who has been painting wildlife with dramatic color since before Ringholz was born, is also at Altamira. Paintings of his are included in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Wildlife Art and have been on exhibit at the Salon D’Automne/Grand Palais in Paris.
“I would say it is more experienced or seasoned collectors that appreciate these pieces that, through their use of bright colors, are really contemporary,” Flores says. “I think collectors start by looking for tightly done work and as they continue to collect, come to realize how much more difficult it is to create a contemporary piece with the illusion of realism.” And then there’s the fact these neon critters are just fun.
A collector at Rich Haines Gallery told Gallery Director and Curator Colby Larsen his theory about why colorful paintings were popular: as baby boomers (he is one himself) are getting up in age, they’re chasing their youth. “He said he loves to have paintings filled with color and life in his home because it gives him energy,” Larsen says. “He told me he’d look over at a colorful piece and feel energized.”
Although one of West Lives On’s most popular vivid palette-ed painters, Larry Pirnie, has recently retired, the gallery still has Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey painting everything from chickens to bears and bison in brights. Although now a Montanan, Cawdrey spent her childhood in France, England, and the Middle East, soaking up some of each of these cultures. “Nancy’s style, from her colors to her doing so much of her painting on silk, is totally unique,” says gallery owner Terry Ray. “People have tried to imitate her, but no one has.” Ray says he has a handful of clients whose collections focus on the traditional but who still have “a whole room done in Nancy.” “It’s because of the bright colors she uses that she can cross over.”
Flores says the same thing about the appeal of Carrie Fell and Jeff Ham. “They’re making traditional subjects contemporary through their use of color,” Flores says.
