Jurassic Tide 1962

Lee Gatch made this painting, Jurassic Tide, in the mid-twentieth century. The canvas is suffused with earthy tones, pale browns, pinks, grays, and yellows, creating a dream-like terrain. I can imagine Gatch carefully building up the surface, layering paint like sedimentary rock, almost geological in its formation. The texture looks rough, like he might have added sand or some other material to the paint to give it that tactile quality. This brings a sense of earthiness, as if the painting itself is a piece of the landscape. There's a stillness in this work, like a quiet meditation on the earth's ancient past. It reminds me of some of the early American modernists, like Arthur Dove, who were also trying to capture the essence of nature through abstraction. It's as if Gatch is saying that the land holds memories. Artists, after all, keep the conversation going across time, building on each other's discoveries. Painting lets us express what can’t always be put into words.