HAMILTON — Imagine, for a moment, the grizzly bear.
The creature leads a dual existence, straddling roles as a
symbol of rugged American wildness and that as a notorious icon of political,
ecological rift.
They are the stuff of myth and pride, legend and nightmare.
But for young Montana painter James Corwin, mostly their
“gentle and observing” soul is abundantly present in his hyperreal re-creations.
The 28-year-old grew in Kalispell, in a cabin with no
television or video games, just a rarely paralleled proximity to the wilds of
northwest Montana.
“My mom grew up in New Jersey, but her dream was always to have
a log cabin in Montana,” Corwin said. ““I was forced to spend my playtime
outside in nature, acres and acres of forest where I’d go shed hunting and
exploring, catching insects and critters to care for them.”
At the time, Corwin had no apprehension that countless moments spent roaming the surrounding forests and fields observing their natural order would ultimately dictate his profession.
Corwin standing in his Hamilton studio, where he finishes an average of one painting per week. PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES CORWIN
It was his senior year of high school, during an art class he
chose to round out some missing credits, that Corwin discovered a prescient
ability to draw and paint, innate talents that quickly landed him a scholarship
that allowed him to attend any art institution in the country.
Since graduating from Marietta College in Ohio, a liberal arts
institution where Corwin was a six-generation legacy, he returned to Montana,
established a studio in Hamilton and produced dozens of paintings to remarkable
acclaim.
Back to the region’s (in)famous bruins—in Corwin’s piece
“Monarchs,” a large grizzly idles in
tall, summer grasses while observing a Monarch butterfly flapping by.
He has never observed this in the wild, but he has seen the
ways in which wild bears exhibit a highly inquisitive, curious, gentle and lumbering
nature as they browse for food and suitable places to take a nap. So when
painting “Monarchs,” Corwin figured why not create this relationship on canvas
with a goal of fostering an emotional bridge between observer and wildlife.
“People think they’re so scary and dangerous, and yes they are, but they’re also gentle and observing. I wanted to create an emotional connection with something that can be perceived as aggressive,” Corwin said. “When I choose to feature wildlife instead of landscapes, I know I can portray that emotion much easier.”
‘Perseverance’ by James Corwin PAINTING COURTESY OF JAMES CORWIN
Some deem his works whimsical, a quality Corwin says he doesn’t
always perceive, but one could argue it is a persistent theme of his work.
For example, “Serendipity III” depicts a grizzly lying on its
back looking up at a hummingbird flying overhead; “A Pika and a Bumble Bee”
shows the named creatures looking eye-to-eye on a lichen-specked rock next to a
bloom of wildflowers; “The Morning Report” has a praying mantis seeming to
whisper in the ear of a sleeping raccoon.
Yet, there is a quality of natural solemnity in other pieces,
such as “Resilience,” where a bull moose stands in a grove of charred timber,
or “Sockeye,” in which a large grizzly rips a live salmon from the water,
thrashing it about in the air.
No matter the nature of the composition and the creatures
illustrated within them, there is little room to argue that emotional
connection has not been established for the viewer—it would require a plain
lack of regard for the natural world to claim otherwise.
With growing prestige, pricing some pieces as high as $30,000
and with commissioned clientele including the likes of Kevin Plank, CEO of
popular athletic wear manufacturer Under Armour, it seems Corwin will have no
foreseeable shortage in the demand for bringing that emotion into homes and
hospices around the globe.
With the fate of wildlife perpetually
hanging in the balance, perhaps it is pertinent for us all to consider
grizzlies as the gentle souls Corwin has shaped. The notion might just preserve
them for generations to come.
Visit jamescorwin.com for
more information about the artist and how to purchase a piece.