Central Illinois artist Harold Gregor has painting hanging in Oval Office
For 40 years, central Illinois artist Harold Gregor has painted the Midwest landscape, elevating flat, often disparaged images of fields and farms into complex aesthetic experiences that affirm and ennoble.
His work has changed the way people think of Midwest farmland and influenced a cohort of artists and art collectors.
Unlike iconic landscapes of pounding surf on rocky Maine shorelines or towering images of Yosemite, Gregor paintings gently guide the eye to beauty beyond the stereotype. In doing that, Gregor alters the relationship between the viewer and the environment.
President Barack Obama had a Gregor landscape hanging in his Senate office in Washington, D.C., and it was one of the pieces Obama took with him to the White House. "Illinois Landscape No. 120," a large, 60-inch by 82-inch canvas, now hangs in the dining room of the Oval Office, affirmation to the world of the subtle but powerful beauty of central Illinois farmland.
A major exhibition of Gregor's work is on display at Illinois State University Galleries through Sept. 13. "Radiant Plains: Recent Paintings and Watercolors" is curated by Barry Blinderman, director of ISU Galleries.
Blinderman said the show traces Gregor's development from abstract painting to photo realism and back to abstract expressionism. Included in the show are some of Gregor's "vibrascapes" and "flatscapes," techniques the artist devised to portray an alternative perspective of landscape.
Blinderman describes the result like sprinkling "magic powder" over the landscape. The flatscapes focus on surface and pattern and are based on photos shot from low-flying airplanes. Vibrascapes are more spontaneous expressions of color and energy in the landscape.
"He has not abandoned any of these styles. He is juggling all these styles at once," Blinderman said.
Blinderman has known Gregor since 1987. The show is a tribute to the artist, who turns 80 on Sept. 10.
"It's interesting to see what an 80-year-old artist sees. He may be 80, but he is vital and young at heart," the curator said. "The show ends three days after his 80th birthday. This is work from a man at an age not generally associated with such fecundity and force."
Gregor's eye perceives an orderly geometric pattern in the agrarian landscape.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Gregor explained that as an artist, "You help people to see the world they're familiar with in different terms - to find beauty in the things around them."
The impact of Gregor's work is powerful, both personally and politically. An environment that is valued is less easily dismissed and mindlessly destroyed. Rooting viewers in an aesthetic environmental tradition gives affirmation, strength, resolution and sense of responsibility.
There are more than two dozen pieces in the show, many on loan from private collectors.
"I wanted to focus on his impact on the community. He has collectors all over the world, but I wanted to include pieces with collectors here to show his importance to this community," Blinderman said. "But there are some collectors who just couldn't give up their pieces, they are such a central part of their home. It's like giving up their fireplace."
Colleague and friend Kenneth Holder said, "I can't name anyone in the Midwest who's had the influence and impact on painting that Harold has."
Holder, who came to central Illinois from the Texas panhandle and who still paints the Western landscape, said Gregor's images led him to examine the central Illinois agrarian landscape more carefully.
"Harold has an ability to turn people on to something they once took for granted . . . to see the beauty in their surroundings," Holder said. "He builds a human connection, putting the viewer into the landscape."
Gregor is the only living artist with work hanging on the main floor of the White House. Both Illinois senators have Gregor landscapes in their Washington offices.
At an opening reception earlier this month, Gregor spoke of coming to Illinois State University in 1970 after working and painting in California for 10 years. He came to the Midwest prepared to find inspiration from farmland.
Gregor said that although President Obama never lived in central Illinois farm country, he drove through it for years traveling from Chicago to Springfield as a state senator.
Obama and others who appreciate Gregor's work have learned to see central Illinois not as boring, monotonous "fly-over" country but as an aesthetically rich terrain with historical, cultural and environmental significance.
Clare Howard can be reached at (309) 686-3250 or choward@pjstar.com.
'Radiant Plains: Recent Paintings and Watercolors'
What: Exhibition featuring works by central Illinois landscape artist Harold Gregor.
Where: Illinois State University Galleries, 110 Center for the Visual Arts, Normal.
When: Through Sept. 13. Summer gallery hours: Noon to 4 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Saturday; noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Fall hours beginning Aug. 17: Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday through Monday; 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday; 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.
Closing party in honor of the artist's 80th birthday: 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 10.
Admission: Free.
More information: (309) 438-5487 or www.cfa.ilstu.edu/galleries.