Black Oak 1982

Eyvind Earle made this painting, Black Oak, using smooth colours and clear, sharp forms. It's almost like a woodblock print but it's a painting, it's all very stylized, and that tells me a lot about Earle's process. I’m really drawn to how solid everything feels. The paint is opaque, not see-through, and flat against the surface. This makes the image graphic, almost like a sign. Look closely and you'll see the dark color bleeding through the trunk, and on the ground below. It's like the tree is shedding darkness, or maybe absorbing it. What's so great about painting is that it doesn't have to be one thing or the other. Earle reminds me of artists like Etel Adnan, who also explored simplified forms and stark contrasts in color. Just like in Adnan’s work, the beauty here is in seeing how much feeling can come from something so simple. It’s like a conversation across time, about the power of seeing.