“Naturalistic” painter Clark Gussin has loved the style and techniques of the Old Masters since he was a boy painting at the Corcoran Gallery Art School. James Bama, Norman Rockwell, and Andrew Wyeth have long been considered Gussin’s influences, and their impact and realistic quality of work is clearly seen in his current show, “Route 41 Suite,” which runs at the Triton Museum of Art until June 23. In “There Has to Be a Better Way,” a cowboy, dressed in a bright blue button up shirt, chaps and boots, stares off into the distance as he fiddles with his rodeo gloves. His trusty horse looks directly at the viewer. A cloudy sky and nearly empty bleachers are the background. The image serves as much as a painting as it does a captured moment in time. Although this is distinguishably different from a photograph, it has a life-like quality, leaving the viewer to think about the cowboy lifestyle – a down and dirty, rural way of life centered around hard work.
The Triton Museum of Art is at 1505 Warburton Ave. For more information visit www.tritonmuseum.org.
