Review
The American Life of Bo Bartlett by Hind Berji
At fi rst glance , Bo Bartlett ’ s work doesn ’ t look like anything new . His large canvases are fi lled with the crisp realism of Edward Hopper , the small-town iconography of Norman Rockwell , and the vibrancy and luminism of George Caleb Bingham . Yet , Bartlett brings it all together to portray a fresh and complicated take on American life as he knows it . Organized by the Mennello Museum of American Art with an extension of four paintings at The Orlando Museum of Art , Bo Bartlett : American Artist features the seductive quality of oil paintings , which stems partly from his large canvases and polished aesthetic . His paintings are subdued with a warm light that looks like the most natural thing in the world — a fl eeting , bittersweet , transitional light that falls on his characters .
Bartlett is a transitional painter because he dwells in a not-quite-fantasy world grounded in memory and reality . He is both a romantic and a realist , someone who suspends us in our own memories while igniting our imaginations . From his Lacunae Series , Halloween portrays the fi gure of a young boy dressed as a ghost , frozen in time and gazing stoically at the viewer between two dividing lines on the road . It ’ s typical of his characters to gaze directly at viewers if they aren ’ t looking off into the distance with their heads turned away . In Halloween , the central fi gure ’ s gaze is eerie in its serenity . As the other trick-or-treaters run in one singular direction to the next house , the boy remains in a non-changing state , defi ned by the angelic fi gure on his right side and the devil on his left .
Bartlett at once captures personal purgatory and the purgatory of a nation . He scrapes just below the surface of American life , revealing alienated characters amidst vast , idyllic landscapes . The Bo Bartlett experience isn ’ t just about capturing relics of America ’ s natural , isolated beauty ; it ’ s political . Although he has repeatedly stated that he is not an actively dogmatic , ideological , or didactic artist , Bartlett ’ s work speaks as a commentary on the politics of American culture and iconography . Bo Bartlett ’ s America is apple pie and Friday night football , but it is also the same America fi lled with an unshakable , never-ending sense of social malaise .
In The American — a painting primarily inspired by a scene in To Kill a Mockingbird in which Atticus Finch shoots a rabid dog in the street — a man holds a rifl e in an empty town , defending it against an unseen threat . The American is a study in scapegoating , in “ otherness ,” and the responsibility of perpetuating hysteria . The other always exists just beyond the horizon , and you can bet that someone in an abandoned town somewhere is standing guard , ready to defend his territory against an unseen , perhaps fi ctionalized enemy .
Similarly , Oligarchy considers America ’ s leaders , here representing the wealthy , white , and often male corporate elite . As viewers , we ’ re not sure if the crowd that holds the oligarch in his chair is parading their sovereign or if they are in revolt . However you may read it , the motion of the painting gives the illusion that he is teetering in his chair , leaving him lingering in the instability of singular power . In Oligarchy , as in America , true power — the power of the masses — rivals positional or monetary power .
It ’ s diffi cult to decipher whether Bartlett is further mythologizing American culture or if he ’ s scrutinizing it . He clearly values the wholesome , safe , conveniently unblemished America of June Cleaver , but his work operates on potential — the potential of a country disillusioned by the past , paralyzed by the present , and anxious of its future . In The Good Old Days , a couple softly embraces as they revel at their catch . They are confi dent ;
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