Forecast, or the Ice Storm Cometh Painting

Christopher Engel’s work vibrates with the energy of bold, gestural lines that intersect at points between the foreground and background. These fields are bridged together in a web of kinetic, interconnecting lines which create a remarkable sense of three-dimensionality. The close examination of space, or how we create it and replenish a void, is a study that Engel has pursued since he started as a landscape painter in the early 70s. Engel was deeply affected by the relationship between the elements of the landscape; trees, shrubs, bushes and elements on the periphery. Everything worked to define the space that contained and moved him. Engel currently works out of his studio in Staunton, VA. He continues to honor the influence of the natural landscape and remain enamored by the impact of color. With several canvases standing over four feet tall, the surfaces are rich in a sophisticated palette of earth tones; greens, browns, blacks, blues and occasional use of bright red and orange allude to an aesthetic that straddles both landscape and abstraction. Yet despite representational titles such as Canyon, Ice Storm and Clear Skies, Engel’s vision immerses the viewer in suggestions of horizon lines or tree branches rather than orient them directly toward a conventional depiction. Tensions of push and pull are achieved with both opacity and transparency, as well as the natural flow of the medium. Ultimately, the point of departure is radically transformed and the result is nothing short of powerful. The space around us to him is the defining characteristic that makes us aware and allows us to function in our environment. Creating this feeling of space in his abstract work with color, texture, line, scale, scraping, dripping etc. is what satisfies his aesthetic needs.