Description
Douglas Leon Cartmel’s Snowy Forest Triptych is a monumental suite of three large-scale monochromatic oil paintings on linen. Each canvas conjures a spectral grove of birch trees, their bark rendered with painterly precision and then disrupted by scrapes of paint that blur detail into abstraction.
The works evoke the sensation of a snowstorm: ethereal flurries drift across the surface, softening the stark verticality of the trees and dissolving the forest into the atmosphere. Cartmel’s restrained palette and minimalist approach heighten the meditative quality of the triptych, inviting viewers to experience both the serenity and disorientation of nature in flux.
From a distance, the forest appears cohesive and immersive; yet upon closer inspection, the interplay of mark-making and erasure reveals a tension between representation and abstraction. The result is a hauntingly atmospheric landscape—at once intimate and infinite—that exemplifies Cartmel’s mastery of process and his ability to transform natural imagery into a contemplative, contemporary vision.
Each painting measures 5 feet wide by 6 feet high and is intended to be shown with a few inches in between.
Sold as a set of 3. The list price is for the ensemble.
Executed in 2023-2024
