"On Lake Dillon" Painting

Conceivably, landscape painting offers viewers three verities – geography, autobiography and metaphor. Geography is, if taken by itself, sometimes boring, autobiography is frequently trivial, and metaphor is often dubious, at best. But taken together, the three kinds of representation strengthen each other and reinforce what all strive to keep intact – an affection for life. Each of Roman Luchuk canvases evokes the splendor and energy of Mountains in seductive compositions. Although his landscapes are instantly recognizable as such, he imbues them with an emotional, rather than representational, view. His colors literally vibrate with intensity, and manage to convey the lush, sensual freedom of the open air, while somehow also instilling the viewer with an underlying sense of harmony and balance. There is a remarkable synchronicity between freedom and discipline to be found in the sanctuary of his vivid landscapes, which is not easily defined. One does not merely look at his paintings; rather, one experiences them. The psychological and emotional impact of color, in particular, assumes an effective means of reaching the soul of the viewer, maybe even comparable to the physical “vibrations” of sound reaching the listener’s ear. With their unusual palette of blue, green, orange, yellow and red for emphasis, the diverse surfaces and facture vistas are bound together by a strong sense of composition as contour. The works presented are at times somewhat quirky and yet “deceptive” in a positive manner. When first looking at these paintings, one recognizes that they are landscapes, part of the realist tradition, but one almost immediately pivots to the far more compelling abstraction – looking at them in terms of shapes and colors. That is, the imagery moves seamlessly back and forth between the two binary poles of abstraction and representation. This is a thoroughly modernist approach, entirely in keeping with attitudes, devices and objectives typical of 20th century art-making. Artist is fascinated with perception and visual experience, making of them virtual leitmotifs. His long-term project is, above all, to create “successful” paintings – to treat them in terms of their independent reality – their fundamental autonomy.