An Artist’s Adventures (and Misadventures) Out West
Jim Gingerich was born in Texas and raised there and in Oregon, but, despite his love of the region, he moved to New York City 40 years ago and has spent much of his time since then painting the landscape of the South Fork. It was only in March 2015 that he took an extended leave from the East Coast and settled in Utah’s high desert. One result is “Out West,” a large series of paintings that will be shown this weekend in a benefit exhibition at the Sara Nightingale Gallery in Water Mill.
While in Utah, he painted every day and became an avid rider, bonding with Lucy, a white fox trotter who also appears in many of the paintings. “My studio was in a barn right next to the corral,” he said during a recent conversation, “so any time I needed to reference her, she could model for me.”
While riding last April, Lucy lost her balance and fell on Mr. Gingerich, crushing his pelvis. Since then he has undergone two surgeries and is now back on the East End, facing extensive rehabilitation and therapy. As serious as the accident was, he seemed more interested in talking about his painting than his misfortune.
About his decision to head west, he said, “Almost facetiously, I was telling people I was tired of the colors of green and gray and blue, which are predominantly what we have here. Out there the land itself is very red. There’s a lot of iron in the soil and rock formations. Plus there are lots of mountains — a lot of warm tones and verticality.”
His vibrant, evocative landscapes of the East End have long been highly regarded and enthusiastically collected, and the new work features the expressive, swirling brushwork and dramatic interplay of light and shadow typical of his earlier paintings. The plateaus and mountains of the West are captured in dynamic compositions with strong diagonals and movement from close up to deep space.
“Out West” also includes several paintings made in Las Vegas, where he rented a room on the 54th floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. One captures that dramatic prospect from the point of view of a showgirl looking out at the scene from the right foreground. A few hundred-dollar bills flutter over the vista.
The idea for a benefit exhibition came from Graham Leader, a film producer, curator, and friend of Mr. Gingerich. “He was the instigator and the implementer,” said the artist. “My daughter, Danielle, has been very helpful. A lot of people have stepped forward.”
Mr. Gingerich has begun working on some drawings and small paintings, but he is just beginning to be able to put some weight on his left leg. “I’m down to one crutch or a cane. Painting is normally sort of a dance for me. I work standing up, and there’s quite a bit of movement between the canvas and the palette.”
The exhibition will open with a reception with wine and hors d’oeuvres on Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. and reopen Sunday from noon to 5. Donations of $20 have been suggested to help offset Mr. Gingerich’s medical expenses, and prints of his “Lucy” will be available for sale.