CHARLESTON, IL - New approaches to landscape painting are presented in the exhibition titled Ben Whitehouse: Revolution now at the Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University.  The exhibition, currently on view, continues through February 24 in the Tarble’s main galleries.  Included are paintings on canvas and on panels, and videos of the landscape.
 
Ben Whitehouse will be at the Tarble Arts Center on Tuesday, February 5, 7pm, to talk about his art.  Admission is free and the public is invited.  An informal reception will follow the talk.  The exhibition and talk are part of the Tarble’s Contemporary Currents series co-sponsored with the EIU Art Department and partially funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
 
Whitehouse has devoted his career exploring ways to evoke an authentic landscape experience through his art.  Whitehouse does most of his painting on-site, outdoors -- what artists call plein air study.  This tradition dates back to the French Impressionists and has been adopted by many artists since (including 20th century Charleston artist Paul T. Sargent).  True to the tradition, Whitehouse has transported himself and his equipment to sites in all weather and all seasons to do his painting.
 
Since receiving his MFA from the University of Chicago in 1991 Whitehouse has been obsessed with the way form in the landscape emerges and dissolves over time due to changes in light and weather.  He often watches the subjects of his paintings for days, observing and recording incremental changes and transitions in the colors and qualities of light. Whitehouse has stated that his work is a reaction to the Impressionists’ art, particularly Claude Monet’s Rouen series, and Whitehouse sees his art as a contemporary extension of their art.
 
The new series of works developed over the past few years, titled Revolution, Watch, and Horizons, reflect Whitehouse’s growing desire to account for the incremental transitions of light through increasingly complex conceptual practices that expand the subject of landscape painting.  Watch is a series of painted works that record sky light shifts observed through the same fixed point in the landscape over time.  Horizons has to do with the color of and relationship between light from the sky reflected on bodies of water.
 
In addition to works composed of individually painted elements that depict changing qualities and colors of light, the Tarble exhibition also includes two 24-hour real-time videos presented on large monitors. The works of Revolution are 24 hours long and are viewed in real time (the time of day the viewer is looking at either video is the same time of day being shown in the video).  Whitehouse spends more than 24 hours on location composing each video that unfolds before the viewer with the incremental changes of light and sound.  
 
It may be of interest to note that Whitehouse is the son of a British documentary filmmaker and environmentalist.  The generous donation of a high definition camera, speakers and plasma monitors from Panasonic have made it possible for Whitehouse to realize this vision.
 
Whitehouse is represented in Chicago by the Alfedena Gallery.  His work has been exhibited at venues in Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and London.  In addition to the Tarble exhibition Whitehouse’s art is currently on view at the Chicago Cultural Center and at the Los Angeles Art Show.
 
The Tarble Arts Center is located on 9^th Street at Cleveland Avenue on the EIU campus in Charleston.  Open hours are 10am-5pm Tues.-Fri., 10am-4pm Sat., 1-4pm Sun.; closed Mondays and February 15.  For information phone 217-581-ARTS (-2787) or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .