B'BETH WELDON: WHEN LIGHT BECOMES POETRY

The paintings of the important American artist, B'Beth Weldon, pulse with life via her use of color and light. Her responsiveness to this is so great that even in works where color is barely there, for example her “Urban Series”, the painter manages to create the illusion of many more colors due to her sensitivity to the fluid nature of things.

There exists an innate pulse in Weldon's work, present during all her distinct periods, which offers a unique rhythm to the composition, banishing any sense of decorativeness while bringing the composition to life from within. Her works move in front of our eyes, whether they are semi-representational, abstract, or works in which a unique realism prevails via color and light. In the second case, the painter's talent creates a sense of transcendence that bridges the natural and the supernatural.

In this way, Weldon manages to create not only visual but also spiritual impressions on the audience, as her work encourages viewers to go on a personal journey dictated by their own experiences and past. The composition and execution of each of her works results from the artist's response to color and light.

Her unique style becomes especially apparent in the “Prismatic Series”, as she creates the sense of a third dimension via the pulsing of color. Self-contained color becomes the fuel for the implication of the composition's infinite fluidity which the color explosions (those that confine her works between representation and abstraction) contain.

The perfect balance between the experience that triggered the work and the way the artist visually rendered with her use of color and light applies to the triptych “Awakening” - a work poetically conceived and executed, with a cosmogonic dimension. The inexhaustible suggestive power of this composition invites as many readings of the work as are our viewings of it. Intensely atmospheric, this triptych takes us on endless journeys of the mind and soul; journeys infused with the aura of the ultimate energy that permeates the universe. The color in the triptych flows and clings inside of us due to the bursts of light that bestow a mesmerizing pulsation to the composition. The composition expands outside the canvas with unique fluidity making the viewers feel that by looking at the work they become privy to the energy of the universe. This particular triptych by B'Beth defines an entire environment, a unique horizon between earth and sky, between the natural and the supernatural. B'Beth's triptych "Clarity" is one in which blue prevails. By using a variety of the most miniscule nuances of shading, this work is equally imposing in its charm. Indeed, we mentally immerse ourselves in this work so passionately that we are invited to become one with it.

The painter's most recent landscapes involving the “Delta and Wetlands" are a pleasure to the eye with the constant juxtaposition of reflections of natural scenery on standing waters. These works constitute a climax in the artist's career while they prove her ability to reinvent her craft from within without betraying the main characteristics of her art. In fact, we find here an unrivaled appeal that defies prosaic description. These works are an 'ode to Mother Nature' sparking a transcendence; in fact, Weldon initiates us into the quintessence of nature as she slips into nature's fundamental elements by using her characteristic sensitivity to color and light as her accomplices. More importantly though, Weldon maintains contact with the idea which originally inspired her. Thus, proving through her art Plato's definition of original art as a representation of an Idea and not an imitation. Hence, this establishes and confirms Weldon as an artist of great importance.

Dora Iliopoulou-Rogan
Dr. Historian of Art/Art Critic
Officier des Arts et Lettres

Amanda ComerMarch 1, 2018