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Nature's Poerty
By Benjamin Rose
Don
Brackett and PJ Garoutte have recorded the changing light on much of
the world's landscape.
Artists Don Brackett and P J Garoutte stand as longtime partisans ofplein
air, of light-nature rendered poetically. Following the vein of the
late nineteenth century visual revolution of the Impressionists, Brackett
and Garoutte are not concerned with the cumbersome didactic paradigm
of historical art; nor in our current twenty-first century moment are
they troubled with the harsh abstraction and striving newness of Modernism.
Instead they simply paint the warmth of life. Their themes are variations
of light on the landscape and their works naturally exhibit the painterly
desire to capture a moment of sunshine, an instant of light. A throwback
to the aesthetics of Baudelaire, their emphasis stands upon the contemporary,
the natural and human environment existing around them each day.
This work is readily accessible, based in representation
and stemming from a certain sense of realism. Yet Brackett's and Garoutte's
paintings never attempt a literal rendering; they instead portray a
visual scene as perceived through their own distinct filters of experience.
As long-term partners in both life and art they sense this intuitively,
and explain it poignantly for they are conscious of both the troubles
and rewards of their artistic endeavors. Brackett emphasizes the painter's
special ability to take advantage of the resources at his command (and
if you~ve been painting as long as these artists have the resources
are innumerable):
"Painting on location requires more than just painting a report
of what you see. Nature doesn't always supply a good composition for
you," he explains. "As an artist you have the ability to adjust
the scene to make a good painting. You sometimes have to move buildings
or trees or add subjects to the composition-as well as adjust the colors,
values and shapes. Making good, exciting paintings is our goal, using
the computer God has given us plus the storehouse of knowledge gained
from painting outdoors for forty-odd years. You cannot copy nature so
why even bother trying...."
This ability to manipulate composition and content in their work through
their vast artistic experience is not a conscious effort for Brackett
and Garoutte. They use the stored information and experience they have
garnered through their creative lives with the ease and precision of
trained second nature, and when painting they create an artistic space
for themselves where they are not even conscious of their surroundings.
Garoutte confides, "[We are] all the time dealing with inclement
weather, heat, wind, bugs, dogs and human beings who ask strange questions,
to which we give strange answers. Being so focused in the right side
of our brains we sometimes aren't even aware anyone has walked behind
us. In the studio we will be totally engrossed in what's happening on
the canvas in front of us and the phone rings! It is very difficult
to put down the brush and switch to the other side of our brains and
speak coherently to the person on the other end of the line...."
Despite these countless distractions-inherent to everyday life-in combination
with their task of painting on location and their responsibilities to
family and friends, Brackett's and Garoutte's steadfast dedication to
their art carries them through it all and keeps them focused upon their
successful and committed careers.
Their success lies in the blending of knowledge and experience with
the spontaneity of painting on location, working in the moment. Garoutte
beautifully describes the ftision of these elements into the process
of painting as "responsive." Essentially the unconscious employment
of all the vast experience accrued through a career with direct focus
upon and openness to the visual subject directly before them.
"Years are spent training yourself to become the responsive, responsible
artist you dream of becoming; attending universities, colleges, workshops
all over the world, talking to and visiting other artists whose work
you admire or doiA admire, tons of books you pour over-all this is part
of the process," explains Garoutte. "Don and I have done it all!"
This vision of artistry, all the training and experience and struggle,
is rewarded in the current careers of these artists. And yet, as consummate
professionals, Brackett and Garoutte are acutely aware of and constantly
struggle against the most difficult task and responsibility that goes
along with longevity and success: the yoke of complacency. Brackett
refers to it as "the trap of the artist-the tried and true method."
And so it is a difficult and honest question that they pose to themselves
every day: after forty years of doing this, how do you keep it new?
Much of their success at fending off this complacency is inherent in
their responsive approach-painting in the moment and being sensitive
and adaptive to the unique circumstances at hand. Also helping them
is the intrinsic properties of their subject matter-nature, whose protean
attributes firmly reject complacency at every turn.
Brackett and Garoutte intentionally employ techniques to keep things
fresh. For instance on day trips they will carry a different palette
of colors. And they never travel abroad to the same place twice, choosing
to experience something totally new during each journey and painting
the distinct nuances of wherever in the world they are. Combining all
these things their work succeeds and the viewer senses the freshness
with which each brushstroke is made and each vision of nature is rendered.
What also always remains refreshing is their teamwork, their lifelong
vision of painting as partnership. They have painted and traveled and
shared their lives for thirty years. They can discuss and critique and
enjoy each others work and they are lucky enough to be drawn to similar
compositions, even though they come from disparate backgrounds, different
places. Together they enjoy their four children and nine grandchildren
and paint and live in a relationship that few on this earth are lucky
enough to share-the same interests and careers, a love of nature and
travel and an exceptional ability and talent that pushes them ever-forward.
Their most recent body of work is a celebration of the seasons, focusing
on the cycles of nature that these extraordinary artists have been faithfully
witnessing and documenting in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado
for more than three decades. It is an assemblage of fresh paintings
that bear witness to the spirit of Taos as few have known it. Even fewer
have had the ability to paint it with such looseness and grace, capturing
the evocative silence of this unique place.
TAOS MAGAZINE October 2002
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