Paintings by Charles Meanwell • Road Conditions • by Stuart Reid 3

Paintings by Charles Meanwell: Winter Road Conditions by Stuart Reid   Bush and Field, 2014, oil on board, 58 x 58 cm / Gas Station, 2014, oil on board, 58 x 58 cm             The haunting provisional architecture of the lonely local Gas Station (2014, 58 x 58 cm) in Meanwell’s hand, creates a stark monochrome of black on white, punctuated only by the red band of the canopy atop the pumps.    Highway 6, 2014, oil on board, 58 x 58 cm / Railbridge, 2014, oil on board, 58 x 58 cm Likewise in other works, the artist turns the brutal imposition of hydro towers, lamp posts, rail bridges and overpasses on the landscape into eloquent compositional strategies to evoke the vast open space that defines Ontario – those roadside structures being visual markers of distance in deep perspective. There is a new order implied with these human-made utilitarian shapes and forms that contrasts and amplifies the natural and un-natural.  [  >>>>>  FORWARD  ]   Share [Distillate © HA&L + Stuart Reid  |  {from the Greek bios} -- the course of a life.] [See a Portfolio of work by Charles Meanwell] [This article is sponsored by FirstOntario Credit Union & Judy Marsales Real Estate LTD., acknowledged with thanks by the Editor and Samizdat Press.]