American, b. 1924
World Beyond, from The Odyssey Series, 1989
Oil on Canvas
This painting caught my attention right off the bat due to it's size. It is about five and a half to six foot across and about four foot tall. It has a plain wooden frame and is all black and white. The second thing that caught my eye was the title World Beyond, from The Odyssey Series. The Odyssey to me was a story of Jason of the Argonauts looking for the fabled golden fleece. Greek mythology is one of my favorite interests.
Beverly Pepper, was a American by birth who studied painting in New York and Paris after World War II, who later moved to Italy for most of her life. She began her career as a commercial art director and earned recognition as a painter in the 1960s, which then she turned her energies to creating the monumental sculpture for which she is best known, Santa Barbara Wedge of 1980-81. The Odyssey Series of the late 1980s, presumably an illusion to Homer's ancient epic poem, marked her return to painting.
The large abstract planes of black and white and vigorous application of paint evoke a powerful interrelationship of earth and water and the forces of nature. In any case, the landscape remains anonymous, free of architecture, landmarks, natural phenomena that might reveal a specific time and location.
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