John Comer has re-invented
the wheel. His joy in having done so gives
his paintings a
special
freshness. He is not an artist who is copying
the manner of artists active in the 1920’s;
he is an artist who has discovered that outlook
independently.
He loves oil paint; he handles it with a great
richness and fullness which is beyond that of
all except the master chefs of the palette. He
loves the fall of light across the deck of a
sailing ship, through the branches of a barren
tree. Some of his work recalls a range of artists
active in California from William Keith to William
Wendt, but it is never that he has just copied
them; he has touched the same wellsprings of
inspiration as they did, and he has brought forth
landscapes as rich and fresh, as personal and
original, as theirs.
Much of the time, John and his wife Lesley,
have lived on a boat in Hawaii, which makes his
affection for the sea in all its moods quite
understandable. But his landscapes of upland
Hawaii countryside could be of California and
there is a point at which they come together.
One of the views of Hawaii which I especially
like, depicting two palms blowing in the trade
winds, is of Hawaii but was painted (from memory)
in California.
A number of (John’s)
paintings have remarkable cloudy skies, with
some clouds dark,
some light,
all creating deep space against brilliant
turquoise distances. It is a pleasure to see
haw he can
create an articulate space architecture;
this is a clear indication of a man who enjoys
his
own freedom of space.
Some of his collectors
put his paintings in actual frame styles
of the twenties, 1920’s,
in which they look remarkably well, though
he seems to like modern frames of greater severity
also.
In these times, in
which forward-leaning artists have gotten
far a field from the landscapes
of
the 1920’s era, there is something
pleasing about a young man who can choose
not to follow
the ways of the avant garde, who can succeed
in reactivating a vision of the world which
is very close to what most people seek in
art.
April, 1989 Paul C. Mills
Retired Director, Santa Barbara Museum of Art
