Quiz Make Up

             Rackstraw Downes is a talented landscape painter. He was recently featured on a PBS episode of Art21 called “Balance.” Rackstraw Downes stated in an interview that he doesn’t consider himself as a “landscape Artist” but a painter that paint’s his environments. Downes also stated in an interview with a New York Times reporter Dorothy Spears the he “doesn’t troll the Internet for images-he doesn’t own a computer- and he doesn’t use, or own, a camera. He rarely retouches canvases in his studio, relying instead on sketches and his own eyes.”

            Downes earned his BA from Cambridge University in 1961 according to the PBS Art21. He also received many awards including one from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2009. Some of his artworks include “The Arena, Chinati, 9 A.M., Looking north” and “The Pulaski Skyway Crossing the Hackensack River (2007).”

            Realistic is one word that I would use to describe his artworks. One painting that I really enjoyed was one of the cross street of “110^th and Broadway in new york city. He named this painting “110^th and Broadway, Whelan’s from Sloan’s (1980-81).” This painting featured the cross street of 110^th and Broadway New York during the 1980s. One thing that I really liked about this painting is the fact that he took exactly what he saw and transferred it into a beautifully portrayed painting. From the shadows of the trees and mailboxes to the buildings and the people going about their day in New York, the colors and details of what he painted were exact.

            Other known painting that featured that same realistic overview is a painting of the New Jersey Pulaski Skyway that featured a panoramic overview of the Pulaski Skyway and its surroundings. Downes named this painting “The Pulaski Skyway Crossing the Hackensack River (2007).” Downes also painted a beehive Yard located in presidio TX. He named this painting “Beehive Yard at the Rim of a Canyon on the Rio Grande, Presidio TX.” This painting featured a large open area full of beehives with volcano shaped mountain overlooking it.

            In conclusion, his painting is a perfect example of what I look for in art. The amount of color, details time that Rackstraw Downes put into his paintings really shows his passion and in what I believe he love to do. Art can be any thing depending on the viewer’s view of it and I believe when an artist such as Rackstraw Downes put this amount of dedication into their paintings or exhibits or anything, it really becomes some spectacular.

                        

Citation 

Dorothy Spears. "New York Times." Street Life As Still Life July 21, 2010.