Artist:
James Welling
(American, b. 1951)
The Carry
Medium: Archival inkjet print on rag paper
Date: 2013
Dimensions:
28 × 42 in. (71.1 × 106.7 cm)
Accession number: 2016.3.10
Copyright: © James Welling
Label Copy:
In 2010, Los Angeles-based artist James Welling began taking a series of color photographs inspired by the painter Andrew Wyeth. Welling started the Wyeth series as an examination of the artist’s influence on his own career. This project represents one artist entering the creative mind of another artist. Welling was fascinated and challenged by what he saw in Wyeth’s work.
In order to experience the physicality of Wyeth’s world, Welling went on location in Pennsylvania and Maine and photographed in the same areas where Wyeth painted throughout his life. His goal was not to make a literal record of these subjects, but rather to reference aspects of Wyeth’s style, technique and palette. Welling’s investigations led him to a greater understanding of the degree of painterly license found in many of Andrew Wyeth’s works. In response, Welling digitally manipulated elements of many of his photographs in the studio in order to capture the moods and atmosphere of Wyeth’s paintings.
Welling wrote of the genesis of "The Carry": "Using Google Maps I was able to identify the location Wyeth depicted in his painting "The Carry," 2003, in Waldoboro, Maine. My photograph, made in the summer of 2013, shows the terminus of the Goose River as it enters saltwater cove. Wyeth’s painting depicts a swollen river, and it reminds me of the torrential streams I saw after tropical storm Doria in August 1971. Perhaps Wyeth was inspired by a similar late summer meteorological event in 2003."
In 2010, Los Angeles-based artist James Welling began taking a series of color photographs inspired by the painter Andrew Wyeth. Welling started the Wyeth series as an examination of the artist’s influence on his own career. This project represents one artist entering the creative mind of another artist. Welling was fascinated and challenged by what he saw in Wyeth’s work.
In order to experience the physicality of Wyeth’s world, Welling went on location in Pennsylvania and Maine and photographed in the same areas where Wyeth painted throughout his life. His goal was not to make a literal record of these subjects, but rather to reference aspects of Wyeth’s style, technique and palette. Welling’s investigations led him to a greater understanding of the degree of painterly license found in many of Andrew Wyeth’s works. In response, Welling digitally manipulated elements of many of his photographs in the studio in order to capture the moods and atmosphere of Wyeth’s paintings.
Welling wrote of the genesis of "The Carry": "Using Google Maps I was able to identify the location Wyeth depicted in his painting "The Carry," 2003, in Waldoboro, Maine. My photograph, made in the summer of 2013, shows the terminus of the Goose River as it enters saltwater cove. Wyeth’s painting depicts a swollen river, and it reminds me of the torrential streams I saw after tropical storm Doria in August 1971. Perhaps Wyeth was inspired by a similar late summer meteorological event in 2003."