Nancy Depew
by Charley Parker
Web Blog: Lines and Colors
February 28, 2006
Nancy Depew paints landscapes, still lifes and figures. In each case
her approach, although consistent in many ways, is so strongly tied to
her intentions toward the subject that you might think it the work of
three different artists if you didn’t know otherwise.
Her landscape paintings are usually deep within the woods, at the edge
or center of streams, in thickly canopied areas occasionally punctuated
with light. She works in a meticulous and refined realist style and infuses
her landscapes with subtle emotions by controlling the light. The light
invites you in, but the darkness is always there, at the edges. Her landscape
images are at once appealing and slightly disconcerting.
Depew’s still life paintings are primarily of floral subjects.
Rather than the expected arrangements in a vase, her flowers are often
lying on a flat surface, as if carelessly tossed aside, or pulled up
roots and all. The colors are simultaneously delicate and strong, vibrant
and subdued. She often plays with a subtle spotlight effect as in her
landscapes, drawing your eye to a particular point from which you then
move to other areas of the image, exploring her wonderfully rendered
textures and careful arrangements of tone.
There are also figure paintings and charcoal drawings on the site. Her
figures are most often in curled or contorted positions, as if haunted
by something or struggling with emotional isolation. Her figure paintings
show a masterful command of traditional techniques and perhaps a fondness
for Velázquez.
After seeing the figures your perception of her landscape and still
life paintings may be altered, so I recommend viewing the figure work
last.
The paintings are in oil. Unfortunately, Depew has taken down the small
gouache landscapes that used to accompany the oils.
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