Visions West Gallery presents The Lay of the Land, July 12^th -Aug 6^th This the first of an ongoing series of yearly exhibitions that will explore the relationships between art and landscape, the evolution of landscape painting and ponder questions such as one posed by Cezanne over a hundred years ago, “is our sight weary and burdened by the memory of a thousand images? Do we no longer see nature; just pictures over and over again?” Utah artist Mark England, Los Angeles based artist Doug Smith and Canadian artist Gregory Hardy will hit on these wide-ranging topics of landscape painting from its use as an instrument of cultural force to how the legacy of landscape is carried out in our bodies and mind, evolving throughout history. The word landscape associates a place and the people who dwell there allowing endless interpretation and discussion.

Doug Smith evokes enduring themes of the American West with his agrarian paintings. His vibrant pieces illustrate landscape’s interesting double identity as domain and scenery, a place or region and an aesthetic of space. He paints America’s fertile farmlands encompassing vast distance and space while capturing a mood of timelessness and nostalgia with traditional farmhouses and weathered barns. Smith’s paintings are collected privately worldwide and reside in permanent collections of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art and the Booth Museum of Western Art.

Mark England’s landscapes are anthropological, illustrating values, activities and events of ancient and contemporary cultures. He says, “All of my work, in some way or another, is about landscape and how we see ourselves through it and impose our values on it”. Each of his paintings is a specific location. He doesn’t paint fantasy art; all of his objects and depictions he incorporates are meant to be grounded in each place for a reason.

Approaching his subject matter from a simple desire to paint the pristine landscape of Western North America is artist Gregory Hardy. He is inspired by this landscape and its weather. He paints the clouds, fields, forests, and skies using thick, textured layers of paint and a range of brushstrokes. Greg says, “The changing relationships in the landscape: the light, the season, the space, have been the focus of my concerns as a painter.” There is no postmodern irony, but the viewer might ask if the archetypal forms and rhythms of the land are shared between our consciousness and the natural world. The works stand as homage to the earth itself. Gregory has shown throughout Canada and is represented in many major collections including numerous Universities, banks, oil companies, hotels, and corporations.

For more information visit www.visionswestgallery.com or call 406.522.9946. Visions West Gallery is located at 34 West Main Street in Bozeman, MT and is open Monday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5:30 PM.