Emeritus professor of fine arts at York College, City University of New York, Garthwaite’s paintings, sculptures, and films have had strength of social comment since the early 1960’s. Garthwaite, who lives and paints in Old Greenwich had the following to say about his upcoming exhibit.
“My work has always been about social commentary: in the 1960’s the civil rights movement and the liturgical movement of Vatican II; in the 1970’s the Vietnam War; and since 9/11, “The Afghan War Cloud Series”. The environment has been my main interest since the 80’s, “Protect the Wetlands Series”. After moving to Old Greenwich 16 years ago, my works have been about land and water edges—surging waves and waterfalls, quiet marsh inlets, high tides and fast moving water. Ironically my own studio is now threatened by a confluence of environmental forces including changing atmospheric conditions with much larger rain storms, Mac Mansions, and an aging drainage infrastructure. The beauty of water can be tarnished when flooding and drainage are a problem; there is a dissident side to the land and neighbors lose a natural harmony that should exist. “The Dissident Land”, the emotional land, needs a balance of resolution between capturing the beauty and the ideal, visually, and correcting the underlying malfunctioning systems that plague neighborhoods and cities. This requires responsible municipal and personal rethinking. If we healthfully co-exist with the land changes, we’ll engage in a new, ever changing conversation with it. If we share in the land’s presence, we assist in its recovery and begin to ensure its future. According to the postmodern use of conversation, art should ask diverse questions and elicit multi-interpretations of self understanding. This show, “The Dissident Land”, asks: How can we secure the pristine aesthetic possibilities of the land and how can we live in the land cooperatively and protect it?”
Ernest Garthwaite has had over 50 one man exhibitions and is in over 75 public and corporate collections including Arnot Museum, Elmira, NY; Municipal Art Gallery of Windsor, Ontario; London Art Museum, Ontario; Medicine Hat Museum, Alberta; Southern Alberta Art Museum; Harvard University Business School, and Concordia College, Quebec. A partial list of corporate collections includes Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, FactSet Research, F.B. Rich Corporation, Marsh & McLennan, Mitsui, PepsiCo, and Time Warner.
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