In this moment, Jared Sanders finds himself drawn to compositions without a well-defined horizon line, scenes that defy the definitive split between land and sky, earth and ether.
“In a landscape painting, the horizon line is where the ground ends and the sky begins,” he says. “That point of separation can dominate the canvas. So my goal is to create landscapes that use the horizon line in a way that serves the composition but does not overpower it, or compositions that have no horizon line at all.”
This indeterminacy makes room for other painterly elements to take primacy like texture and tone. No longer is the eye resting on the horizon as orientation; instead it turns to more ethereal aspects for resolution. “The right surface quality and depth of color tells me when a painting is finished,” Sanders says. “This is also the painterly quality that I am looking for. Whether it’s loose or static, each application of paint needs to enhance the surface and color.”
