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LYNN BOGGESS

  
  
  
  

About Lynn Boggess


With masterful use of line, palette and texture Lynn Boggess carries the viewer into his richly verdant and luscious landscapes, where these works were conceived.

Lynn Boggess’ subjects reflect the diverse nature of West Virginia and its flora. Boggess draws the viewer into the deeply receding spaces of his images. The pictures, devoid of human or animal habitation, focus on Nature, free of the influence of human activity. Boggess compels the viewer to contemplate each scene in turn, and finally the cycle of scenes: the lapse of hours; the alternating character of the rocks, of the trees and of the land; the turn of season. The paintings themselves become the spaces they portray.

In many large and small ways, Boggess' paintings reflect the entire tradition of landscape painting. When asked what major influences or past movements might have left their imprint, Boggess says that whatever images he might be studying at the time provide the nexus for his own work. Indeed, the viewers will find suggestions of the Romantics,...

About his process

(continued)
...the Luminists, the Impressionists, and the Expressionists. Yet, the artist does not set out to make his works conform to a preconceived style; rather, he melds the tradition and his own experience into a way of seeing and a style in landscape painting which is uniquely his own.

Stylistically reflective of European and American landscape painting, Boggess' work transcends the pitfall of betraying his predecessors and forges, in its place, an art of resolution and contemplation. Nature has been acknowledged in his work and accepted for what it has to offer in the way of healing and beauty. That last concept - beauty - is a loaded word in an age of art which often gives us truth with all its flaws and warts, or with the sophistication of irony, which is all-too-often uncomfortable with the idea that beauty is definable, desirable, or even necessary. Boggess' work cuts through such specious queries to a plainer truth: that beauty simply is ~ an unavoidable irrefutable fact of the natural world. In their unhedging presentation of this fact, Boggess' paintings offer solace and respite, even to the most casual of viewers, just as do the original locations in Nature which were his impetus.

In the best plein-air tradition, Boggess constructs portable shelters for his outdoor painting. He has, for some time, eschewed the use of the brush in favour of the trowel. The cement trowel, even more than the first use of the artist's palette knife, which gave the Post-Impressionists of the late nineteenth-century a vehicle for piling on the pigment, presents a challenge to the painter because, with an undisciplined flick of the wrist, the artist could cut into or rip the surface of his canvas, destroying several days work.

Boggess has said that the technique presented a very tricky problem, until he was able to master the exact angle of wrist-to-trowel-to-canvas necessary to create a single leaf, a tree branch, or a patch of water. He uses primary colours, mixing them on his palette as he paints. This is Boggess' way of controlling the colour, rather than using premixed tubes of pigment, as some artists do. In numerous respects, Boggess' colouristic technique is a reflection of the master painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as his plein-air work is a reflection of the Impressionists' direct approach to Nature and, like the Impressionists, he paints what he sees. Taking to the outdoors in all kinds of weather, Boggess paints his subject as he stands in its midst. If the snow seems to fly across the picture plane, it is because Boggess stood there, working against time and the elements. When viewers say to him, "I feel as if I am really in the picture," it is surely because Boggess was there when he painted it.

His large-scale paintings may help to explain, in part, the sense the viewer has of entering the scene. The pictures seem, in ways other painters have not been able to achieve, to give the viewer a real door into Nature. In Boggess' work, his focus is upon the elements of nature, concentrated within the small section he has chosen to show. Although there is the certain understanding that the actual landscape is much more extensive than we see in a single picture, there is no heroic expanse, no inhabited scene to tell us what occupation is carried out within it, nor is there a sense of sentimentality or nostalgia in the picture's presentation. In fact, Boggess has carefully omitted all evidence of human presence. Unlike Romantic landscapes, which show the magnificence of Nature pitted against the smallness of human endeavor, or the ravages of humanity upon the natural world, Boggess' works focus our attention exclusively upon the trees, the light filtering through them, or the reflections of the sky and its light upon the water. These are pictures for refreshment: of our eyes, of our psyche. They are small stopping places along the way.

There are no animals; there are no fences; there are no deposits of waste in the streams. Boggess gives us Nature, seemingly pure and undefiled. For him, and for his viewers, Nature in its pure state has the capacity to heal, and that is where Boggess brings his attention and, with it, ours. The artist often chooses not to paint precisely what he sees. Rather, he eliminates all of the human detritus. He leaves out the barbed wire and the old tires washed onto the streams' banks. Boggess gives us meditative bits of landscape without assuming any tone of preaching to his viewing public, and without heightening or saddening it, either. For him, Nature is an embodiment of beauty, of what we now have and must protect. For viewers who have any acquaintance with the natural world, these pictures resonate with memory, with experience, and create for them a respite from frenetic routine.

Boggess’ winter scenes, bring the viewer into direct experience with Nature. Snow is a difficult thing to paint because, while we "see" it as white, and the scene as monochromatic, white in fact encompasses all the colours of the spectrum, thus giving the painter a knotty task: painting one colour from all colour, without making a garish scene. Boggess succeeds. We feel the quality of the cold air; we understand, by his restrained suggestion of the colours in the snow, almost but not quite breaking through the surface of the ice crust, the brilliance of the light.

In Boggess' stylistically heavy application of the paint, in his roughly-textured surfaces, he is closest to the German painter Anselm Kiefer, a post-World War II Expressionist, whose use of landscape reverberates with the devastation of the Nazis. His landscapes are wounded, bleeding, unquiet, all seemingly opposite qualities to the work of Lynn Boggess, yet the two share many attributes, especially their aggressive, unflinching approach to subject.

The landscapes of Lynn Boggess give us a year-round walk in the woods. They provide us with a series of meditations on beauty; they give us an opportunity to consider the importance of Nature to our own experience. They also contain, in small subtle ways, much of the history of landscape painting. Because Boggess has chosen to paint Nature directly, and because he sees it as beautiful and endangered, he draws us into his fierce political vision. Because that vision is so disciplined that the artist presents it for us, without commentary, we may choose for ourselves which memory to recall; which path to take.

Excerpts from: Marian J. Hollinger, Curator, Fairmont State College, Fairmont, WV

Born in 1955 in Washington, West Virginia, Lynn Boggess grew up on a farm near Parkersburg, West Virginia, and continues to live and work in his home state. He was Professor of Art at Fairmont State College and Coordinator of the Art Department for several years before devoting himself exclusively to painting.


Selected Awards and Honors


Lifetime Achievement Award, WV Governor’s Awards, 2010
Best of Show, Tamarack’s Best of West Virginia Art Competition, 2009
West Virginia Visual Artist of the Year, 2009
D. Gene Jordan Award, The West Virginia Juried Exhibition, 2009
West Virginia Governor’s Award for Excellence in Painting, 2009

Selected Museum and Collections


SAS Institute, Cary, NC
West Virginia Governor’s Mansion, Charleston, WV
Eisai, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

Education


Cranbrook Academy of Arts, Bloomfield Hills, MI: MFA
Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV: BA

Available Work


Lynn Boggess, 12 July 2023
12 July 2023
oil on canvas, 62" x 54"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 16 June 2023
16 June 2023
oil on canvas, 40" x 36"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 5 May 2023
5 May 2023
oil on canvas, 15" x 30"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 7 June 2023
7 June 2023
oil on canvas, 15" x 30"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 23 November 2022
23 November 2022
oil on canvas, 70" x 60"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, May, November, January
May, November, January
oil on canvas, 20" x 16" eachCLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 16 May 2023
16 May 2023
oil on canvas, 40" x 36"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 22 March 2023
22 March 2023
oil on canvas, 46" x 40"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 20 July 2023
20 July 2023
oil on canvas, 70" x 60"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 3 July 2023
3 July 2023
oil on canvas, 24" x 36"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 14 June 2023
14 June 2023
oil on canvas, 15" x 30"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 19 June 2023
19 June 2023
oil on canvas, 24" x 36"CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, Four Seasons
Four Seasons
oil on canvas, 24" x 18" eachCLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, Evening
Evening
oil on canvas, 40 x 36CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 27 June 2022
27 June 2022
oil on canvas, 34 x 30CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 22 February 2018
22 February 2018
oil on canvas, 24 x 48CLICK FOR INQUIRY
Lynn Boggess, 22 July 2023
22 July 2023
oil on canvas, 46" x 30"
Lynn Boggess, 4 April 2023
4 April 2023
oil on canvas, 62" x 54"
Lynn Boggess, 19 June 2021
19 June 2021
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 28 October 2022
28 October 2022
oil on canvas, 15" x 30"
Lynn Boggess, 20 May 2023
20 May 2023
oil on canvas, 34" x 30"
Lynn Boggess, 3 July 2022
3 July 2022
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 30 April 2021
30 April 2021
oil on canvas, 70.5 x 60.25
Lynn Boggess, 2 April 2022
2 April 2022
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 2 July 2022
2 July 2022
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 18 May 2020
18 May 2020
oil on canvas, 26 x 22
Lynn Boggess, 18 August 2021
18 August 2021
oil on canvas, 70 x 60
Lynn Boggess, 18 July 2022
18 July 2022
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, Evening
Evening
oil on canvas, 40.25 x 36
Lynn Boggess, 10 January 2022
10 January 2022
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 02 November 2020
2 November 2020
oil on canvas, 28 x 52
Lynn Boggess, 2 May 2022
2 May 2022
oil on canvas, 15 x 13
Lynn Boggess, 4 May 2022
4 May 2022
oil on canvas, 15 x 13
Lynn Boggess, 30 June 2021
30 June 2021
oil on canvas, 70.5 x 60
Lynn Boggess, 4 December 2019
4 December 2019
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 31 March 2021
31 March 2021
oil on canvas, 40 x 36
Lynn Boggess, 21 September 2020
21 September 2020
oil on canvas, 22.5 x 19
Lynn Boggess, 20 May 2021
20 May 2021
oil on canvas, 40 x 36
Lynn Boggess, 11 March 2021
11 March 2021
oil on canvas, 28.25 x 52.25
Lynn Boggess, 20 March 2021
20 March 2021
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 25 May 2020
25 May 2020
oil on canvas, 26 x 22
Lynn Boggess, 26 April 2021
26 April 2021
oil on canvas, 62.5 x 54
Lynn Boggess, 21 June 2021
21 June 2021
oil on canvas, 64.25 x 54
Lynn Boggess, 28 February 2021
28 February 2021
oil on canvas, 26.5 x 22
Lynn Boggess, 12 April 2021
12 April 2021
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 25 January 2021
25 January 2021
oil on canvas, 26.5 x 22
Lynn Boggess, 26 May 2021
26 May 2021
oil on canvas, 40 x 36
Lynn Boggess, 26 June 2021
26 June 2021
oil on canvas, 62.5 x 54
Lynn Boggess, 5 July 2021
5 July 2021
oil on canvas, 34.25 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 1 February 2021
1 February 2021
oil on canvas, 70 x 60
Lynn Boggess, 31 October 2020
31 October 2020
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 18 April 2018
18 April 2018
oil on canvas, 28 x 52
Lynn Boggess, 24 April 2021
24 April 2021
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 11 February 2021
11 February 2021
oil on canvas, 22 x 19.25
Lynn Boggess, 6 December 2019
6 December 2019
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 18 December 2020
18 December 2020
oil on canvas, 20 x 17
Lynn Boggess, 18 April 2012
18 April 2012
oil on canvas, 20 x 17
Lynn Boggess, Summer 2019
Summer 2019
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 25 November 2019
25 November 2019
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 5 June 2017
5 June 2017
oil on canvas, 22 x 19
Lynn Boggess, 21 March 2012
21 March 2012
oil on canvas, 40 x 34
Lynn Boggess, 27 November 2019
27 November 2019
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 1 November 2019
1 November 2019
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 28 March 2013, diptych
28 March 2013, diptych
oil on canvas, 17 x 20 (each)
Lynn Boggess, 14 February 2019
14 February 2019
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 16 September 2011
16 September 2011
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 8 September 2014
8 September 2014
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 10 November 2018
10 November 2018
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 20 March 2018
20 March 2018
oil on canvas, 40 x 35
Lynn Boggess, 12 March 2018
12 March 2018
oil on canvas, 28.5 x 52
Lynn Boggess, 1 June, 2015
1 June 2015
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 18 April 2018
25 April 2018
oil on canvas, 28 x 52
Lynn Boggess, 14 July 2016
14 July 2016
oil on canvas, 36 x 32
Lynn Boggess, 7 June 2017
7 June 2017
oil on canvas, 22 x 19
Lynn Boggess, 26 March 2018
26 March 2018
oil on canvas, 46.5 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 28 March 2018
28 March 2018
oil on canvas, 24 x 48
Lynn Boggess, 05 April 2018
12 May 2018
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 12 May 2018
12 May 2018
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 20 February 2018
20 February 2018
oil on canvas, 40 x 35
Lynn Boggess, 16 March 2018
16 March 2018
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 6 March 2018
6 March 2018
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 10 January 2018
10 January 2018
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 10 March 2018
10 March 2018
oil on canvas, 54 x 46
Lynn Boggess, 2 February 2018
2 February 2018
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 6 June 2016
6 June 2016
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 6 January 2018
6 January 2018
oil on canvas, 40 x 35
Lynn Boggess, 16 February 2018
16 February 2018
oil on canvas, 40 x 35
Lynn Boggess, 22 June 2016
22 June 2016
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 8 September 2010
8 September 2010
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 06 June 2016
22 March 2017
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 10 July 2017
10 July 2017
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 10 May 2014
10 May 2014
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 22 April 2015
22 April 2015
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 25 April 2015
25 April 2015
oil on canvas, 54 x 46
Lynn Boggess, 23 May 2016
23 May 2016
oil on canvas, 40 x 34
Lynn Boggess, 18 May 2016
18 May 2016
oil on canvas, 40 x 36
Lynn Boggess, 17 February 2017
17 February 2017
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 15 February 2017
15 February 2017
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 8 June 2016
8 June 2016
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 12 February 2016
12 February 2016
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 1 June 2016
1 June 2016
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 16 March 2013
16 March 2013
oil on canvas, 15 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 21 April 2014
21 April 2014
oil on canvas, 15 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 2 July 2015
2 July 2015
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 1 May 2015
1 May 2015
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 1 May 2016
1 May 2016
oil on canvas, 54 x 45
Lynn Boggess, 2 March 2015
2 March 2015
oil on canvas, 34 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 2 May 2014
2 May 2014
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 3 November 2012
3 November 2012
oil on canvas, 20 x 17
Lynn Boggess, 3 November 2013
3 November 2013
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 4 February 2016
4 February 2016
oil on canvas, 34 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 5 March 2013
5 March 2013
oil on canvas, 54 x 45
Lynn Boggess, 5 May 2014
5 May 2014
oil on canvas, 54 x 45
Lynn Boggess, 6 March 2015
6 March 2015
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 7 March 2014
7 March 2014
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 8 March 2010
8 March 2010
oil on canvas, 40 x 34
Lynn Boggess, 8 May 2014
8 May 2014
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 9 March 2015
9 March 2015
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 10 November 2013
10 November 2013
oil on canvas, 40 x 34
Lynn Boggess, 12 April 2013, diptych
12 April 2013, diptych
oil on canvas, 20 x 17 (each)
Lynn Boggess, 12 May 2014
12 May 2014
oil on canvas, 24 x 48
Lynn Boggess, 12 May 2016
12 May 2016
oil on canvas, 40 x 34
Lynn Boggess, 14 May 2014
14 May 2014
oil on canvas, 34 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 14 March 2014
14 March 2014
oil on canvas, 26 x 22
Lynn Boggess, 15 June 2015
15 June 2015
oil on canvas, 24 x 48
Lynn Boggess, 16 March 2014
16 March 2014
oil on canvas, 26 x 22
Lynn Boggess, 16 May 2014
16 May 2014
oil on canvas, 24 x 48
Lynn Boggess, 16 April 2014
16 April 2014
oil on canvas, 15 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 18 March 2014
18 March 2014
oil on canvas, 54 x 45
Lynn Boggess, 20 April 2012
20 April 2012
oil on canvas, 26 x 22
Lynn Boggess, 20 October 2013
20 October 2013
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 22 February 2014
22 February 2014
oil on canvas, 15 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 22 March 2014
22 March 2014
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 22 March 2011
22 March 2011
oil on canvas, 46 x 40
Lynn Boggess, 23 April 2012
23 April 2012
oil on canvas, 20 x 17
Lynn Boggess, 4 February 2014
24 February 2014
oil on canvas, 15 x 30
Lynn Boggess, 25 September 2010
25 September 2010
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 26 April 2013
26 April 2013
oil on canvas, 12 x 24
Lynn Boggess, 26 March 2015
26 March 2015
oil on canvas, 54 x 46
Lynn Boggess, 27 September 2013
27 September 2013
oil on canvas, 54 x 45
Lynn Boggess, 28 February 2015
28 February 2015
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 29 April 2013
29 April 2013
oil on canvas, 12 x 24
Lynn Boggess, 8 March 2012
8 March 2012
oil on canvas, 30 x 26
Lynn Boggess, 26 March 2012
26 March 2012
oil on canvas, 54 x 46