Jamie Spatt
Drawing 1
Exhibition Paper
10/21/08

Between Flatscapes and Realism: Today Blue Smiles
Harold Gregor, a Midwest landscape artist from Illinois, when challenged by critics over his bold uses of color theory to describe the arguably plain Illinois landscape, he once said of his work, "A flatscape is not meant to be primarily a picture of a farm nor is it solely a color-formed space. Instead, it is meant to be both, and thus a new, more complex and dense kind of presentation. If I succeed, viewers should be able to enjoy the descriptive aspects of the work and the ordered color array simultaneously." For Gregor, It seems as though moving west from his previous home in Detroit Michigan, was a modern manifest destiny, true to the core of the classic American spirit and dream. Upon arriving amongst the sprawling Midwest farmlands, after just recently living immersed in the industrialist environment of the Automobile capitol of the nation, Gregor must have felt something very new and very strong take hold of his artistic vision. Just as Claude Monet felt deeply moved by his surroundings in nature so many years before, Gregor paints as though nature herself divinely inspired each brush stroke.
In Today Blue smiles, a watercolor by Harold Gregor, currently displayed at the Tory Folliard Gallery in downtown Milwaukee, a person can get lost in a world where realism and abstraction collide with a vibrant color scheme, leaving you thoroughly enchanted in it's aura. The scene, painted from a photograph took from a plane, is itself, in composition, a very orderly and realistic grid like pattern. There also are aspects of realistic subjects and features included in this work and other of his works that keep you grounded, not allowing you to become too disorientated as you wander through his decorative landscapes. The uses of color and the not necessarily 'exact' lines that you see in the field and sky provide just the right amount of freedom through abstraction that you need to be drawn in and emotionally and personally involved in the piece. Had he just painted another landscape completely realistically, it would be more difficult to grab your attention, and to play off your emotions as his experiments in color theory are able to do so well. Another fascinating aspect of this piece, and his other pieces, is that it doesn't seem to be saying anything about farms, farmers, farmland, or anything in the agricultural sphere, despite that being the 'subject' of his paintings. Instead it seems as if the forms themselves like a still life he chose himself, are the vehicles by which he carries out his artistic intent. So moved by the perfect forms and colors he sees in nature, and then altered on canvas for the audiences viewing pleasure, Gregor describes himself to us, and ourselves to us, in a way that's close to the heart and close to our relationship with the natural world we all are a part of.