Private Property
Fall 2005
Woodward Gallery
Woodward Gallery is proud to open the Fall 2005 Art Season with new paintings by Artist Charles Yoder.
“In his glorious new woodland paintings, Charles Yoder transports us to a magical world of shade, shadow and light, ruled by the silent and comforting energy of nature. These eloquent works serve as reminders that groves were the earth’s first temples, havens and sources of inspiration. Painting with infinite attention to detail and nuance, he pays homage to the beauty of the simplest twig emerging from the cover of snow, the grandeur of a towering pine and the haunting mystery of night in a forest.
So completely does Yoder immerse us in nature that we can feel the temperature of the air, the sun falling across our shoulder and smell the fragrant flowers and foliage. He captures summer’s robust lushness with a palette of yellows, oranges, pinks and greens and winter’s chill intensity with silvery blues and grays. Opposing qualities are joined in scrupulously controlled play, giving each work striking dramatic power.
Originally an abstract painter, Yoder brings the same exhilarating rhythms of his earlier works to these highly emotional landscapes. He was converted to figurative art one night when he stepped into his yard and saw the moon through the branches of the trees. Struck by that image, he has successfully worked ever since to share that exhilarating sensation. Like Cezanne, he offers us a familiar world – passionate and cool, grave and light – with a deepened harmony that invites meditation. His private property is now also our own.”
-Valerie Gladstone, Contributing Writer for The New York Times and ArtNews magazine