BO BARTLETT

Bo Bartlett (American, b. 1955) is acclaimed for his large-scale paintings that explore American life and cultural heritage. His style has been honed through extensive training, including a degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Bartlett's work follows the tradition of American Realists such as Andrew Wyeth, Thomas Eakins, and Edward Hopper, while still exploring the beauty he finds in everyday life with a modern point of view. Bartlett's appreciation for ordinary moments imbues his work with an underlying luminosity and frankness.

Earthly Matters presents a selection of Bartlett's recent works that explore human impact on and interaction with the natural world. Bartlett's subjects find themselves in precarious environmental situations, either from their own doing or by forces beyond their control. His larger-than-life scenes break down the barriers between the subjects on canvas and the viewers who are invited to contemplate their role in the narrative.

This exhibition is organized by the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

"The best art jostles us out of our slumber. It makes us uncomfortable. It threatens and delights us. It makes us feel something—sometimes something indescribable that we can't quite put our finger on. But we know that it is a good thing. It has moved us. It has nothing to do with style or taste or accepted norms or anything that has come before it. It is visceral. It calls us to our better selves." — Bo Bartlett

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