Mimi Wiesbord: "Silences"

by Robert Sievert

Many travel the world to find views to paint that inspire them. Mimi Wiesbord is one such artist who has chosen a number of mountainous views that are breath taking and inspire a sense of awe and silence. (She has titled her show "Silences").

Mount Zaos On The Island Of Naxos is realized in the palest of yellows, grays and blues. A misty light moves through the painting and it is only in the green trees in the bottom of the piece that one begins to get a fullness of color. This all contributes to an atmospheric space of the work, in which the distance seems to disolve.

Her painting technique is a very flat unmodulated rendition of forms which places her work closer to graphic (drawing) than painterly interpetation. This works very well for her in the capturing the finite deails of vast landscape spaces she choses to paint. Piles of trees spread out and lead the viewers eye across the painting into the distance and up to the mountains.. There is a calmness in this work,

Most impresive is her six panel painting of a Mexican lake that was the view from her studio window when she visited Mexico. Her understated painting techineque perfectly captures the openness of the mountainous terrain and the viewer feels a light coming from behind the volcanic mountain in the distance. She has developed a wonderful sense of just when enough is enough. While highly delineated the work avoids any sense of fussiness or obsessive detail,