Brown Trout 1978

Neil Welliver made this print, Brown Trout, with a clear love for the creature and its habitat. The composition is all about movement, from the flow of the water to the speckled skin of the fish, and even the shadows on the riverbed. I can imagine Welliver outdoors, studying the trout in its natural element. I imagine he's thinking about how light dances on the water, creating a constantly shifting pattern. He's translating that into a network of lines, shapes, and tones that suggest a vibrant world beneath the surface. See how the marks build up to create a sense of depth, almost as if you could reach out and touch the rocks? Welliver was part of a generation of painters who were looking at nature in a new way. Think of someone like Alex Katz, but instead of people, it’s a fish! What I think makes it so good is that it has this feeling of being both very specific and totally open to interpretation. A bit like life, itself.