Ron Kingswood, Western Art & Architecture, August September 2015

August | september 2015

From Cowboy to Contemporary

Ron Kingswood: Return of the Iconoclast The Plain, Hard Work of George Hallmark Michael Blessing and Meagan Abra Blessing Paint the West Architecture in the West: From Santa Fe to Jackson Hole

plus:

Inside Indian Market Wanderings: California’s Santa Ynez Valley Perspective: The Taos Society of Artists [1915–1927]

138 WA

A

Moon Rising Oil on Canvas | 50 x 78 inches

Return of the Iconoclast After a long, self-imposed exile, Ron Kingswood brings his uncommon flair for wildlife art to new work

Written by

Todd Wilkinson

on Kingswood has spent most of his existence in search of a deeper spiritual connection to birds, mammals and the diversity of species on earth, but he is loath to embrace the pat label of “wildlife artist.”

He isn’t a chronicler, an illustrator or a depicter. Compared to his contemporaries, Kingswood is considered an enigma, a nonconformist and a defiant iconoclast whose oeuvre doesn’t adhere to the conventional approaches of animal painting. His reputation as an outlier, however, is one that Kingswood couldn’t be happier to own. Through the end of July 2015, new works by Kingswood are being featured in a three-artist show at Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe.

WA

A 139

The

much-anticipated

exhibition,

Contemporary

Naturalism, which includes pieces by painter Ewoud de Groot and sculptor Peregrine O’Gormley, represents the first

tions of wildlife. “People who are drawn to Ron’s work tend

U.S. showing in nearly a decade of major Kingswoods, all

to have more modern sensibilities and they want paintings

exploring the intersection of wildlife and habitat.

that have big visual impact. Typically, they own more

Maria Hajic, who oversees Peters’ department of natu-

contemporary artwork and live in large homes, or at least

ralism, says the show represents a homecoming of sorts

have large walls that can accommodate Ron’s more monu-

for Kingswood, and it follows a nearly sold-out show at

mental visions,” she explains. “What generates a powerful

a gallery last year in London, England. Hajic notes that

response are the strength of Ron’s designs, his bold brush-

Kingswood’s collectors are not those who typically gravi-

work and the vibrant color.”

tate toward highly detailed and photo-realistic representa-

140 WA

A

Hidden Oil on Canvas | 58 x 46 inches

Beginning in the 1980s, Kingswood was hailed as one of

Return of the Iconoclast the bright young talents in North American wildlife art. His

stronger as a painter and will continue to set him apart.“

significant pieces ended up being acquired by, among other

In seclusion, Kingswood embarked upon a bold phase

institutions, the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson,

of introspection and experimentation — what he calls

Wyoming. Kingswood, a native of southwest Ontario and an

“unlearning.” Before he could interpret nature with fresh

avid birder, was also enjoying a long run of being juried into

eyes, he realized he had to deconstruct his old ways of think-

the prestigious Birds in Art exhibition held annually at the

ing about color, design, composition and purpose that he

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin,

had been taught in art school.

and he had amassed a solid following of collectors.

He continued to spend countless days in the outdoors

Among those who sang his praises were the late

observing, matching color to mood and even trying to sketch

American mammal painter Bob Kuhn and the famous

the breeze as it blew across the landscapes he frequented.

Canadian nature artist Robert Bateman. Then, much to the

But at art events where previously he had been a fixture,

shock of his colleagues and galleries, Kingswood walked

Kingswood had gone missing in action.

away, not impetuously, but he said he needed to do some soul-searching.

Only after he was pressed by close colleagues, galleries and collectors to explain his absence did he respond by

Many thought he was crazy for leaving behind com-

penning a poignant and very public essay for the American

mercial “success” in the prime of his career and having the

online publication, Wildlife Art Journal. Provocatively titled

audacity to give no explanation other than he was tired of

“Is Animal Painting Dead?,” it riled readers’ emotions by

contributing to a genre that he said “had become inanely

challenging wildlife artists to aspire to be more than mere

formulaic, unimaginative and derivative.”

renderers of wildlife subjects, and to show that “wildlife art”

“Few artists have the courage to make such a change mid-career,” Hajic says, admitting that she, too, was baffled.

could move beyond its widely disparaged cliché of being driven by translation of photography.

“But looking back on it, I believe those years Ron spent ques-

“For me, the ambition to achieve something loftier,

tioning himself, wandering in the metaphorical ‘wilderness’

something purer and genuine, was always masked by the

and experimenting with abstraction have made him even

seduction I had for the physical subject I was researching,”

Marsh Kamuy (The Gods of the Marsh) Oil on Canvas | 62 x 82 inches

he said. “Perhaps another way of putting it is that I discovered I was blinded by the literal subject itself.”

WA

A 141

Breaking free of that spell demanded that he embark upon an alternative jour-

Reaping the Remains Oil on Canvas | 40 x 65 inches

ney away from where he had come, and where he would be

In Hidden, nearly 5 feet by 4 feet, he camouflages a group

ing to the source — nature herself — with open, objective

of avians in a dense tangle of grass and thicket, requiring the

eyes and unearthing the potency of my own raw emotional

viewer to break the aesthetic code. In Nightfall, his nocturne

experience. After giving up what I thought I knew, I began

portrayal of a tarn at sunset serves as a meditation on time.

to communicate things that had previously been veiled, and

And in Autumn Song of the West, sandhill cranes serenade us

then, at last, I found what I’ve always been looking for.”

from a muted sanguine sky.

To convey the spatial grandeur and spirit of natural

“His compositions aren’t intended to provide a tidy,

landscapes, Kingswood stretched canvases across studio

self-contained narrative. That’s the joy of being an artist

walls and immersed himself in color fields like an Abstract

— demanding that viewers use their own imaginations on

Expressionist. His paintings shifted from being about “the

the most basic level,” says Susan Simpson Gallagher who

subjects” to everything else happening around them.

owns a namesake gallery in Cody, Wyoming. “The irony is

In his newfound liberation, he plunged into trying to

that Ron is one of the most sophisticated painters I’ve ever

better understand banded color, tonal harmony, varied sur-

come across. There is a level of intelligence in his work that

face textures and more complicated design elements. These

is mind-boggling.”

had animals and birds exiting or entering at the edges.

A

set against the juxtaposition of mass and

negative space — a Kingswood hallmark.

headed had he remained on the same path. “It meant return-

efforts created thoroughly unconventional compositions that

142 WA

portrays a flock of Canada geese in flight

Hajic was one of the first to bring Kingswood’s work to the attention of Western art collectors 20 years ago and is

His new works today incorporate all of those aspects in

one of the reasons why a few of his major pieces hang today

stunning fashion. In Moon Rising, for instance, Kingswood

in the permanent collection of the National Museum of

brings a Cubist’s take to waterfowl migration across the

Wildlife Art where she — and Simpson Gallagher — were

northern latitudes. Emanating warm earth tones, the hori-

once chief curators. “Yes, when it comes to challenging the

zontal work stretches nearly six-and-a-half feet across. It

status quo and pushing the envelope of traditional nature

Return of the Iconoclast 2014, his first showing was of wildlife scenes at Jonathan

painting, Ron definitely walks his talk,” Hajic says.

“Ron Kingswood is not a conventional ‘wildlife artist,’ and there is a lot of eager anticipation surrounding these

Cooper/Park Walk Gallery in London. The brisk sales there represent an auspicious precedent for the Peters show.

new works,” says Swedish-American animal sculptor Kent

“Ron has an individual contemporary vision. I see what

Ullberg, renown for his wildlife monuments. “Ron is like

he does as the natural progression of the greats that have

no one else. He isn’t normal. He is extraordinary.”

come before him — those artists that stirred the soul and

When pressed to describe his stylistic influences, Kingswood says he relates more to a very talented group

make you want to know more,” says Jonathan Cooper of the enthusiastic response the painter received in the U.K.

of contemporary animal sculptors and carvers. The group

“There is a great honesty and artistic ability in Ron

includes Ullberg, Steve Kestrel, Tony Angell, Walter Matia,

Kingswood’s unique interpretation. Nature has never been

John Sharp and Englishman Simon Gudgeon. “They are

more important and we all know how it is under threat,”

making art that speaks to people in this century. It isn’t

Cooper says. “His work makes you stop in your tracks to

passé. It’s innovative and exciting,” Kingswood says.

admire the beauty and then it makes you think.”

“Of all the living wildlife painters, he has one of the

As for the artist himself, Kingswood draws upon the

greatest senses of abstract design and contemporary treat-

wisdom of Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko: “Art is an

ment, yet when he does make a representational portrayal

adventure into the unknown world, which can be explored

of wildlife, it is with total understanding of his subjects,”

only by those willing to take risks.”

Ullberg says. “Some contemporary artists, especially city dwellers who have had little genuine contact with nature,

Todd Wilkinson is a contributing editor to WA&A and author

just throw animal imagery into their scenes and it doesn’t

of the forthcoming book Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek: An Intimate

have impact. He’s not trying to give the viewer a cheap

Portrait of 399, the Most Famous Bear of Greater Yellowstone, fea-

thrill. Ron paints what he lives and that gives it truth.”

turing 150 images by noted American photographer Thomas

When Kingswood ended his self-imposed hiatus in

D. Mangelsen.

Nightfall Oil on Canvas | 60 x 88 inches WA

A 143