Conard Holton

Artist Statement

I paint the landscapes that surround me. These paintings are of specific places, each with its own ecology and geology, human history, and weather. In all of my paintings I hope to create a sense of familiarity and stability that combine with a sense of strangeness—the world is more than we know or can know.

I love the Adirondacks and upstate New York. My vision of this varied, sometimes mountainous landscape has been inspired in part by the Chinese poetic and landscape painting tradition known as Rivers-and-Mountains. I am also indebted to Indigenous traditions that can give us all an awareness of our connection to this land. Creating these oil paintings has drawn on both my plein air and studio experiences, which inform each other in ways that I don’t always understand but am grateful to explore.

Artist Bio

I grew up outside of Philadelphia, in a rural landscape that encouraged my attachment to the outdoors. Since putting down roots in upstate New York, the Adirondacks have been the primary subject of my work—particularly Lake George. My oil paintings have been in several solo shows and numerous juried exhibitions in the region, and I’m represented by several regional art galleries. I work from studios in both Brunswick and Bolton Landing, New York.