Quietness on the Ocean 1992

Editor: This is Maria Bozoky's "Quietness on the Ocean" from 1992, rendered with watercolor. It’s incredibly evocative, almost dreamlike. What I find immediately striking is how she's used what appears to be simple strokes of the brush, to portray such complexity of the ocean, sky, and vessels. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The materiality speaks volumes. Watercolor, often relegated to preliminary sketches, elevated to capture this scene is, I find, fascinating. This tells me that the traditional hierarchy separating "high art" like oil painting and more "humble" practices such as plein air or watercolor, were subverted. How does that make you consider the value she assigns to the labor of open-air painting? Editor: That's an interesting point. It sounds like plein-air painting could be looked down upon due to it being about ‘mere’ experience or observational rendering, as compared to studio work where the "real art" supposedly takes place? Curator: Exactly. We have to understand the artist's conscious choices – the embracing of the "quick," of working *directly* from nature, which emphasizes her agency. Consider how this reflects her personal consumption patterns in terms of material, in relationship with those social expectations. What did these painting materials represent during that time period? Editor: I imagine access and availability probably mattered. Watercolor materials are traditionally far less costly than those used for oils or other processes, which probably broadened who was creating landscape paintings at this point. Curator: Precisely! And this potentially democratizes not just art making, but representation of everyday locations or observations as an artistic practice. Editor: I see how a 'simple' watercolor on the ocean quietly challenges these well established social art structures, when seen from a materialist viewpoint. Curator: Indeed. By consciously using these more accessible materials and techniques, Bozoky might very well have been making a conscious choice about the statement her work communicates about art, its creation, its economic associations.