GALLERY NEWS

By Bonnie Gangelhoff

Brett Scheifflee is a nationally recognized landscape painter whose oil paintings explore atmosphere, memory, and the emotional resonance of place. His approach to landscape painting balances technical precision with emotional interpretation. He often works from reference material and memory, carefully constructing compositions that convey both realism and a sense of lived experience. Known for his finely detailed, highly representational oil paintings, Scheifflee brings viewers into a contemplative experience of place — whether that’s the soft, rolling fields of the Eastern Seaboard or the rugged high country of the American West. 

In a feature in the February/March 2026 edition of Southwest Art, Scheifflee discusses the unique challenges of painting Western landscapes. While Eastern environments often benefit from humidity that softens distant forms, Scheifflee notes that the West is far more difficult to paint because of its dry, thin atmosphere. This clarity creates sharp contrasts, expansive skies, and intense light that leave little room for visual forgiveness. In this arid light, clarity and color shift dramatically, and the complexity of rocky terrain and massive skies requires a nuanced understanding of how detail and light interact on the canvas. Not in the article, but shared by Scheifflee, he noted that Colorado River was the painting he spent the most time-per-square-inch painting in 2025. Capturing depth and distance in such conditions requires exceptional control of value, color temperature, and detail. Scheifflee explains that capturing this effect demands not just technical skill, but a sensitivity to how air and distance shape what we see. 

At Ann Korologos Gallery, Brett Scheifflee’s landscapes reflect the spirit of the Rocky Mountain region and the broader American West. His work speaks to collectors drawn to realism, Western art, and contemporary landscape painting, offering images that feel timeless, immersive, and deeply connected to place. Through subtle shifts in light and meticulously layered brushwork, his paintings translate the vastness of the West into intimate, contemplative scenes.