Water
Date2002 - 2003
MediumGraphite on paper
DimensionsImage: 40 × 60 inches (101.6 × 152.4 cm)
Sheet: 42 × 62 5/8 inches (106.7 × 159.1 cm)
Framed: 49 3/8 × 69 1/2 × 1 3/4 inches (125.4 × 176.5 × 4.4 cm)
Portfolio/SeriesPlate 2, "Elements" series
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds provided by the William Jay Society.
Object number2008.29
Copyright© Curtis Bartone.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextThis work is from a series of graphite drawings titled Elements that depicts the four classical elements: earth, water, air, and fire. This particular drawing, Water #2, focuses on the flora and fauna of the coastal ecology. Curtis Bartone’s drawings and etchings concentrate on the uneasy relationship between human beings and the natural world. In particular, his work addresses the concept of wilderness, which is typically presented as a lavish but fictional amalgamation of incongruent elements, an artful distortion provoked by human intervention. Artifice stands in stark opposition to the natural, and polluting industry mocks pristine wilderness.
The artist blends diverse influences including Italian Renaissance painting, seventeenth-century Dutch still life, and nineteenth-century scientific illustration with a twenty-first century aesthetic to create works that explore our attempts to tame, control, and consume our surroundings.
Bartone was born in 1965 in Erie, Pennsylvania. He received a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design and an MFA in painting from Northwestern University in Chicago. He has been living in Savannah since 2001.
