Abstract
n these paintings Wardwell creates landscapes sourced from images of the Pacific Northwest and New England. In the compositions, he takes great liberties with the scenery and the landscapes; editing man’s imprint of roads, power lines, fences, buildings, and adding mountains, lakes, and fauna in its place. In creating these images, Wardwell searches for an archetype landscape image as opposed to recreating an authentic image of a particular place or recreating a specific experience. His work focuses on both landscape image as cultural symbol and landscape painting as a cultural signifier. As a result, images of sunsets, waterfalls, and snowy mountaintops run throughout the paintings. Wardwell draws inspiration for these landscape archetypes from Hudson River School painters, especially from the works of Albert Beirstadt and Frederic Church. He brings attention to how landscape painting and our understanding of landscape has been historically linked to a defining of national identity in the United States. From the early imperial advocates of Manifest Destiny adopting the great pictures of the Hudson River School to today’s “true” American advertising of beer and truck ads with a snowy cap on every beer can or a rugged terrain in every commercial, landscape and the American brand go hand and hand.