Sean McFarland
Richard T. Walker
For all the years I lived just over the hill from the Montalvo Arts Center last Saturday was the first time I set actual foot on the grounds. And what pleasant grounds they are too, with art scattered strategically about. While I was there I popped into the Project Space to spend some quality time with work by a couple of my favorite Bay Area artists, Sean McFarland and Richard T. Walker, who are featured in a small group show called Soil to Site themed around new takes on landscape art. McFarland's photographs are famously tricky (I once enthusiastically blogged about his Polaroids without a clue that they are doctored), and his recent "dark pictures" allow only the merest suggestion of detail to shimmer through. The picture above is much much lighter than it appears in person. Meanwhile in Walker's video "The Hierarchy of Relevance" the artist begins with a series of wilderness shots and a vaguely pretentious voiceover before transitioning into a gorgeous, wordless song performed directly to the rocks and trees themselves. I've seen the piece a number of times now, and it never fails to give me shivers at the end.
See also:
