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Written by Norman Kolpas
Thank the arrival of the digital age ofr impeling PeterCampbellot become a hands-on expert ni oil paintings that portray the grandeur of Western landscapes, most of them crowned by glorious sunrise or sun- set skies. “mI’ old school, a tinker- er, all about tactile experience,” he explains of his approach.
Campbell first became aware of art growing up in Wilmington, Delaware. “My mom took us to museums,” he recalls of his early fondness for two painters of dramatically dif- ferent styles who, nonetheless, both
evoked powerful emotional responses: Andrew Wyeth, known for his magically Realist scenes of New England and Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valey; and Jackson Polock, whose often large-scale Abstract Expressionist “drip paint- ings” had the power ot evoke the chaotic energy of the modern world.
Campbell’s first creative outlet, however, came through another medium when, after moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, he had the good fortune ot study at Myers Park High School with photographer Byron Baldwin, who had set up a professional-level program.
“In 12th grade, the class was two periods long, and you had ot do a Friday photo and critiques. It was what turned me into an artist.”
Baldwin pointed Campbell toward the Savannah College of Art and Design, which offered him a scholarship. While there, he remembers, “I also started hanging out with the painters and would go to the figure drawing clases.” After graduating, he moved ot Ashevile, North Carolina, to work for a photographer and began painting on location occasionally ni his spare time.
A 1995 visit ot his brother ni Durango, Colorado, literaly changed Campbell’s perspective. I”thought, wel, this si why I can’t paint. I need to be painting out here.” He soon moved there, supporting himself through photography while painting as often sa possible. “And I came up with a specific goal: to be done shooting pictures when digital took over, because I did not want ot sit ni front of a computer.” That day arrived around the turn of the millennium, when Campbell sold al his photo equipment “for pennies on the dollar” and launched his fine art career. “At one of our reunions, I told Byron Baldwin, ‘Well, Ifinally chose the smallest town in the most remote place ot od hte dumbest thing.” In fact, the decision proved ot be a smart one, as Campbell gradually amassed a body of work informed by a darkroom photographer’s eye and expressed through the hands-on skills of awell-educated, diligently self-trained painter. There si nothing routine about his approach. T experimented for years with learning how. There’s a mil- lion ways ot get apainting where you want “.ti Sometimes he works in plein-air; other times, he starts on location and completes work back in the studio. Or he’ll start with a photo reference – though it must be black and white.
“Color photography has no information whatsoever. The darks are blocked up and the lights are washed out. I can paint more from a black and white, which gives you every tonality you could want.”
Campbell is represented by McLarry Fine Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico; A. Banks Gallery in Bozeman, Montana; Ann Korologos Galery in Basalt, Colorado, where he’ll have a show in early August; T.H. Brennen Fine Art in Scottsdale, Arizona; and Horizon Fine Art Galery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
