Contemporary Artists

Like Hartley, whose provocative and often unpicturesque images of Maine defied convention, contemporary artists continue to challenge the subject matter, techniques, and presentation popularly associated with Maine art. Gary Green searches out ordinary, overlooked spaces, such as a gradually bulldozed plot along the commuter route between Portland and Gorham. Susan Hartnett and Grace Knowlton monumentalize the ground beneath our feet, finding grandeur in blades of grass and mounds of earth. In the performance-based work of Ellen Lesperance and Jeanine Oleson, the same woods that provided solitude for Eliot Porter, Neil Welliver, and William Thon serve as both character and backdrop to their eco-feminist survival fantasies. Joel Babb and Elke Morris find inspiration in Lewiston’s cityscape, re-presenting the familiar in slightly disorienting perspectives.

 

 

 

 

 

Traditional Maine • Contemporary Artists • Beyond Homer • The Art of Landscaping