Hockaday Museum of Art
406-755-5268
Ralph Weigmann: Echoes
September 1 - November 4, 2000
Ralph Weigmann's work represents a visual and symbolic exploration
of a specific landscape element. Trees have echoed
beauty, strength, longevity, will, the forbidden, the loss of innocence,
and joy. Tree images have been used to represent the whole spectrum
of human experience. The aim of these paintings is to convey human
and personal conditions of the body, mind, soul, and spirit in the images
of trees. The works echo a spectrum of life experience determined by and
related to the conditions of his life. (left: Blasted)
Grounded firmly in real landscapes, like John Constable, Ralph takes the viewer on visual tours of his subjects, often details of trees, guided by his brush and palette.
Wiegmann earned his Masters degree in painting from the University of Montana in 1998, but that is only part of a story that includes prolific gallery shows in Butte, Missoula, Bozeman, Great Falls, Dillon, Silver City, New Mexico, Ogden, and Salt Lake City, Utah, since he moved to the Mountain West. Ralph also painted in Santa Rosa, and San Francisco, California, where he took his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. His roots run into the Midwest too -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Interlochen, Minnesota.
He currently lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Suzanne Truman, after a sojourn in Dillon.
Artist's Statement on Exhibition:
"This exhibition represents a visual and symbolic representation of a specific landscape element. Its aim is to convey human and personal conditions of the body, mind, and soul in the images of trees. If trees can inspire connections to our spiritual roots and primordial foundations, so can they symbolize these connections. Metaphorically, trees echo beauty, strength, tenacity, longevity, will, and often positive aspects of life. They have also been used to symbolize the forbidden. Trees have represented the whole spectrum of human experience. This body of work echoes my life experiences."
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