Piece of the Week: “Storm Front”

This week’s feature piece highlights the precise reason our current gallery artist, David Sites, got into impressionistic art over two decades ago. In looking at “Storm Front” over the last few weeks, the whole piece, from its fluid-like strokes to its palette of aqua, purple, and grey communicate a storm rolling in on a body of water. It seemed certain that the light forcing its way through the brooding clouds was reflecting off of the surface of that body of water. The tree line hinted at with purple-pink, however, threatened this interpretation as did David’s own words about the piece.

Upon listening to David’s commentary about “Storm Front” it was clear that he never intended a body of water. In fact, David claims the aqua foreground is a “forgotten field, plowed over.” On the other hand, the storm rolling in, and the sense of foreboding it brings with it, is hard to misinterpret. The dark clouds, along with the pinks, purples, and aqua give the whole piece a distinct moodiness, which regardless of your specific interpretation, is tough to overlook.

While some artists might see misinterpretation as a failure in artistic communication, David recognizes that each viewer brings with them predispositions influenced by life experiences, age, gender, mood, day of the week, and so on. In acknowledging this truth, David has admitted that despite his best intentions, his pieces will be interpreted in a variety of ways – and that is not something to be feared, but embraced.