Two Landscape Artists

I’ve been looking at the work of two well known landscape artists, April Gornik and Peter Krausz. Both work in large scale landscapes with a strong sense of physicality, places that are uninhabited by people. Both masters of the poetry of landscape. I started to see what felt like masculine and feminine traits embodied in their work.

In Peter Krausz’s work, nature is remote, seen from above as if we are gliding down into it. There is a wistfulness, something longed for, but out of reach, we must go to it. The surface is filled top to bottom and side to side and the eye becomes active and sweeps in direct strides diagonally, from side to side across multiple angles and peaks. The brush work is active also and the mark making is clear.

April Gornick’s work has a gentle but powerful stillness. The landscape is viewed from slightly below eye level as if we are in a receptive state to wait for the inescapable mystery about to descend. There is a hushed, expectant feeling in the plentiful negative space. There are recurrent themes of clouds and water seen with a slightly diffused and enveloping softness here and there and around the edges.