With acrylic paint and brush strokes so smooth it is as if the work has been printed, Gilmore Scott presents a starkly colorful abstract landscape where two variations of storm weather reside over a cacti-laden desert in his 2022 painting titled The Monsoons Dazzle over the Bears Ears. The painting contains two compositional focal points which are easily discernable on the left and the right upon first viewing the image. Each focal point is a cloud, the left being a darker cell that points to a tip and the right being a lighter and rounder formation. The remainder of the landscape’s sky consists of contrasting geometric patterns and colors that match the mood of each cloud as the landscape moves from left to right and vice versa. In contrast with the landscape’s sky, the foreground of the painting is a flat, orange-to-yellow gradient with multitudes of small cacti covering the ground. Each cactus has a corresponding shadow on the ground which holds direction consistent with a singular lightning strike emanating from the left cloud. Every element of the painting contributes to a nostalgic appreciation and thematic contrast between the left and right sides of the painting, something by Scott’s purposeful design.
Aside from the shape of the cacti, each remaining element contributes to an intentional dichotomy between the two clouds and what they represent: the Diné cultural gender attributions to types of weather, specifically a female attribution to light and gentle rain which is represented by the cloud on the right, and a male attribution to a harsh and turbulent rain represented by the cloud on the left. Scott uses his Diné cultural background as well as geographic locations that are meaningful to him to amalgamate his reflection on these gender attributions and their physical interaction with the land. Pulling inspiration from the Bears Ears area of southeastern Utah, Scott frames his story within familiar and ancestral context to further solidify his statement.
Looking more intently at the right side of the painting, the corresponding cloud is made up of overlapping concentric circles that mimic the beautiful billows of a rain cloud on the horizon. Each of its circles propagates a staccato color gradient from darker hues of rouge and purple that progressively get lighter as the circles move outward. Below the cloud, lazy swooping lines of blue hues represent a slow and graceful rain onto the land below. Matching the swoops of rain, the sky behind the right cloud contains segregated columns of blue and purple hues retained by gently curving lines from top to bottom. While not explicitly stated, an implication exists that this side of the painting represents the female attribution to natural weather, specifically rain. This is upheld by the choices in hues, geometric styles, and a sedated contrast that implies a gentler, more acquiescent spirit; things that are typically associated with the female gender. The double-stacked mesa reaching toward the sky seems to represent a mutual connection and pleasurable attraction between the land and nature, almost as if a child is reaching up toward their mother.
As the eye moves from right to left across the painting, the feminine rain rather abruptly contrasts with the male representation of a sharp storm cloud producing a commanding lightning strike upon the land below. Still making use of concentric circles to comprise the majority of the left cloud, the restricted radius of each circle and the greyscale palate contained by a black outline resembles the foreboding spirit of a redoubtable cumulonimbus suppressing the lighter sky around it. Sharp zigzags of rain and sky around the cloud emanate a harsh mood to the scene. A pronounced lightning strike resembles an outward statement of masculine power across the land. The implied light and spread of power given off by the lightning is shown by the compositional perspective framing of the entire painting. All of the cacti shadows are positioned to be away from the lightning and the ground is colored to be lighter closer to the strike, suggesting that the strike is the cause of each phenomenon. Both clouds have a flattened bottom showing that the perspective of the viewer is looking up at the clouds which only further strengthens the power of the lightning strike as it appears to be coming down from above, from the heavens to earth. From a contemporary lens, the mood displayed by the left side of the painting and the associated male theme induces a feeling of disquietude that reflects a commonly ignored instability of men and specifically interactions with men who project their apparent power.
Overall, the geometric simplicity and the vibrant hues of the painting establish an aesthetic hook which grabs the viewer’s attention from across the room. As one looks at the painting more and evaluates the smaller pieces of a whole work, layers of complexity begin to unravel. Eventually a window into the cultural perspective of the artist, Gilmore Scott, presents itself and the true value of this visual rhetoric becomes exposed. A work that tells of local historical culture and beliefs has been produced by Scott, and we are now lucky enough to see through this window at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts where the painting currently resides on the second level.
