When we moved our family to San Luis Obispo 34 years ago, we vowed never to take for granted that we were now living in one of the most exquisitely beautiful places in the world.
We are nature lovers and art lovers. The art that was displayed in those days at local art galleries and the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art consisted predominantly of landscapes created by local artists. Visitors to our community loved them. The locals did too, but could just as easily go outside and view the real thing.
Fast forward to today. We now have an art museum that is going in a vibrant new direction by bringing more diverse and inclusive art and artists from outside the county and the state. For a small-town museum to take steps to emulate art museums in larger metropolitan cities is refreshing and inspiring.
SLOMA’s most recent exhibit, Whitney Bedford: The Window, brings this visionary artist to our town to share her distinct impressions of nature, how we view it, and how, as a society, we are threatening the health of our environment by ignoring the damage we continue to inflict on it.
Whitney Bedford exhibits a love of color that immediately captures the eye and pulls the viewer emotionally into her work to further contemplate her perspective and message. In numerous paintings, Bedford details the experience of looking out of glass walls (“The Window”) to view the beauty of the natural world beyond. As stark contrast, Bedford depicts neon-colored distressed trees on the inside of the window as if they’re looking out at what their ancestors looked like before humankind lost sight of nature’s beauty and value.
The longer you view one of her works, the more you sense the numerous conflicting thoughts she is entertaining regarding climate change, global politics, and the apathy society sometimes has toward finding long term solutions to restoring nature’s delicate balance.
Standing farther away gives you an idea of what the artist is feeling and conveying; standing up close to the canvas you begin to understand the level of complexity in each piece. Bedford’s technique includes applying layer upon layer of paint, then masking portions of the painted canvas with tape to retain the color underneath, painting over with another color and then removing the tape to show the underlying paint. This technique gives a depth to the work and creates a texture to an otherwise flat one-dimensional piece.
It would be easy to walk through SLOMA and view this exhibit in a matter of minutes, then leave. Taking the added time to stand and reflect will give you a different perspective on how we fit in the world and what our responsibilities are as small temporary participants on the amazing planet we call home.
Whitney Bedford: The Window runs through February 16 at SLOMA. A resident of Southern California, Bedford is represented by galleries in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Paris, and Australia.