Beauty Beyond Believing 1997

Editor: This is Eyvind Earle’s "Beauty Beyond Believing," painted in 1997 using acrylics. It depicts a rather stylized forest landscape. I’m struck by how geometric and almost manufactured the trees seem. What do you make of it? Curator: Well, looking through a materialist lens, I see Earle challenging the divide between 'fine art' painting and mass-produced illustration, since he did considerable work for Walt Disney. Notice how the acrylic paint is applied almost flawlessly; this is about meticulous control, akin to industrial processes. Does this blend of handcraft and near-mechanical precision tell us anything about consumption? Editor: Interesting! So, the very act of creating this artwork is tied to industry… How does that contrast with the 'natural' landscape he portrays? Curator: It complicates it! We often romanticize nature as untouched, pure. Earle reveals the falseness of this. The geometric forms—those meticulously shaped trees, the repetitive patterns—speak to the control humans exert over their environment and over artistic materials. It also highlights the labor involved. Editor: The painting seems to hide that labor, though, in its smooth finish. It's like he’s trying to make the process invisible. Curator: Precisely! Think about the socio-economic conditions surrounding both landscape painting as a genre and the rise of acrylics as a medium. They democratized art, made it more accessible, but also distanced it from traditional notions of skill and craftsmanship. Editor: So, "Beauty Beyond Believing" is maybe not so much about nature’s beauty, but about questioning our assumptions regarding both the artmaking process and also nature’s representation itself. Curator: Exactly. The title implies a kind of unbelievable perfection, maybe unattainable, but something he certainly works towards via production methods and materiality. I leave thinking about accessibility, the role of labour and craft here.