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Landscape painter
Jeff Aeling recalls driving from the Southwest to his home in St.
Louis, MO, chasing a cloud. The cloud formation seemed to be moving
at the same speed as his car, and as sunset approached and the light
began transmuting to deeper and richer tones, Aeling debated when
to stop driving. How could he be certain of the perfect moment to
pull off the road and photograph the scene? When would the position
of the cloud and his relationship to it be ideal to capture in a
painting?
For Aeling, the compositional decision-making process begins at
such moments of inspiration and continues in his studio, where he
deliberates over which parts of the observed scene to incorporate
into his painting and what metaphorical aspects he might add to
it. "Ultimately the process is about capturing the point where
the landscape is clear and affords me an open view," he says.
Jeff Aeling, Red Rock, UT, Oil on Panel, 18" x 24"
Aeling's reverence for the natural world echoes that of such 19th-century
artists as Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins. Like Homer, his study
of lithography has informed his image-making, allowing him to evocatively
transmit an experience to the viewer. Like Eakins, he believes in
the value of photography as a tool. "I want to capture transitory
light, which cannot be secured in any other way. Photography cannot
be separated as a mode of perception because it comes from formative
experience," says Aeling. "Both my father and grandfather
were dedicated amateur photographers and imbued me with their love
of the medium." Aeling's training with William McKimm at the
Kansas City Art Institute was very much in the school of Eakins,
stressing the study of anatomy, drawing, and composition.
Aeling is a profound thinker, and he approaches landscape painting
with a 19th-century sensibility that could have emanated from American
transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose The Conduct
of Life has been Aeling's philosophical guide. Emerson was not sentimental
about nature, believing it was not concerned with us but us with
it. Aeling believes the same is true for the observer of American
landscapes. "In a very real way, nature exists independently
of your desire to see and experience it," he says. "Whenever
I go surfing I know I have to pay attention to the ocean since the
reverse is unrealistic. Nature is in you and outside of you at the
same time."
Jeff Aeling, Stubble Fire West of Salina , Oil on Masonite, 36 " x 24"
Aeling's affinity for the landscape developed in childhood as his
family traveled throughout the United States and Europe following
his father, an Army physician, from post to post. These extensive
journeys imbued Aeling with a knowledge of and a love for a variety
of landscapes. Two dramatically different locales had a profound
impact on him: "The remote and isolated Hawaiian landscape
and Colorado with the Rocky Mountains rising from the plains really
impressed me," he says.
His career has followed a circuitous path, evolving from art student,
to theatrical scene designer, to owner of a mural and pattern design
business creating antique finishes for architects and interior designers,
and finally to full-time artist. Even while supporting himself working
in other fields, Aeling never stopped painting. And he persistently
explored other imagery and media, ranging from collage and encaustic
(the ancient wax and pigment painting that dates back to Egyptian
art) to photography and portraiture. Today, the influence of this
eclectic mix of interests is apparent in much of his artwork.
Jeff Aeling, Sunset, Washington Coast , Oil on Panel, 8 " x 10 "
In 1996, Aeling won a Grand Arts Foundation grant that led to a
major solo exhibition of his work at the Grand Arts Gallery in Kansas
City. Titled The Layman's Guide to the Passing of the Millennium:
For the Prevention of Hysteria, the exhibit was comprised of more
than 100 dioramas, assemblages, collages, and paintings. It attempted
to break down society's anxiety pertaining to the change of the
millennium by examining the components of the anxiety and the search
for a safe haven in which to house it. Perhaps as a consequence
of the exhibit's large and ambitious scope, the media roundly criticized
it. Nonetheless, it was well attended and highly publicized and
resulted in Aeling securing a national profile and, as a result,
his first major gallery. At last he was able to concentrate solely
on painting.
Today, Aeling travels for about four months annually in a relatively
unstructured mode; for the balance of the year he has a defined
studio routine. He's up early, makes coffee, walks his dog, and
heads to his studio. "I find the mornings so exciting. I cannot
wait to get into my studio," says Aeling. "I love the
first four or five hours of the day, when I confront the challenge
and hard work of painting with fresh eyes."
Aeling believes his artistic process springs from simply "doing
the work." He paints every day, working with oils on panel
and standing at arm's length from his compositions. Even on those
rare occasions when he feels unfocused, Aeling will mechanically
paint and often discovers inspiration as he works his way through
an artistic stumbling block.
Jeff Aeling, Afternoon Near Galisteo NM , Oil on Panel, 18 " x 24 "
Aeling is extremely knowledgeable about the history of art, counting
among his artistic heroes such diverse influences as Venetian Renaissance
painter Giovanni Bellini and contemporary German painter Anselm
Kiefer. Bellini, known for his concise emotional expression, has
had a particularly profound effect on Aeling's artistic vision. "The divine light on the landscape in Bellini's St. Francis
in the Desert points the way to the natural light of the landscape
so often found in American art," he says. "It is the divine
light of understanding, and for Bellini to paint this image he had
to have had an integral sense of recognition-he had to experience
this divine light to paint it. This experience is what happens to
me." And Aeling admires the beauty, bravery of subject matter,
and directness found in Kiefer's paintings.
The impact of both European and American influences is evident in
Aeling's art. In European art nature is seen as dangerous, whereas
in America nature is an integral part of our national identity.
The expansive space of Cumulus Cloud with Virga, for example, is
comprised of three basic elements: sky, cloud, and a deserted landscape
with a palette of fundamentally four colors-blue, white, orange,
and a warm green. The rain cloud is on the cusp of drenching the
plains below. It demands the viewer's attention through the force
of an almost radical composition and the intense use of light. At
first glance this seems a nuclear image, and it is hard to shake
off the sense of doom that this bottom-lit scene creates. However,
it is Aeling's intent to make another visual point entirely-that
the cloud's vastness is a metaphor for the vastness of the American
landscape itself. The power is in the natural events that Aeling
has scrupulously translated as well as in the harmony of all the
elements with the spaces in which they reside. Such glorification
of nature is wonderfully Walt Whitman.
Jeff Aeling, Sunset over Canyonlands , Oil on Panel, 10" x 14 "
In Aeling's painting Cumulus Over the Comanche Gap, he once again
explores familiar ground (and brings to mind the many works French
artist Paul Cézanne did of Mount Saint Victoire in Provence).
This vertical work offers a brilliant sunset in its last minutes.
At the center of the painting an enormous cloud shares the last
of a bright blue sky as it is overtaken by darkness. In the upper
reaches of the work, slate gray clouds push the viewer's eye to
the last moments of the sun's disappearing golden light. It is a
picture fraught with quiet emotion and spiritualism.
Despite the presence of European artistic elements, Aeling's landscapes,
low and wide, seem quintessentially American. It would appear there
is spiritual communication going on between the observer and the
image without forsaking the reality of the place. In Cattlepond
South of Cottonwood Falls, KS, a lyric spiritualism and devotion
to place is illustrated with dramatic beauty. In it, a tranquil
blue pond lies in the center of the picture plane and is flanked
on the top by a misty, gray-blue sky and in the foreground by a
field of tall, spiky grass. The grass is portrayed with particular
attention to the depiction of texture and color, which Aeling achieves
through gestural strokes. The contrast between the translucent sky
and the stiff grass at the front of the picture create a tension
that forces the viewer to look at the pond. The colors are dazzling
and the texture of the grass intensely evoked and pointedly contrasted
to the coolness of the water. Are we to think of this as a refuge?
Aeling leaves this to us to decide for ourselves. This use of drama
and posing of questions makes Aeling's work particularly intriguing.
After living in the Midwest for most of his life, Aeling is planning
a change of his own landscape next year: He is returning to Hawaii,
his home for several years during his youth. He has visited there
over the years and made a number of paintings but is now ready to
make it his permanent home. One can only imagine the clouds that
Aeling will chase in that enchanted place and how their role may
change from central character to a player in the scene.
Barbara Pflaumer
lives in Los Angeles. She has worked at the Philadelphia Museum
of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and as a consultant
to museums throughout the United States and Europe.
Jeff Aeling, Sunset near Clayton NM , Oil on Panel, 30" x 48 "
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