Photo: Richard Nicol, Courtesy Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle

Forest Room

1999

American, born 1960

Michael Brophy grew up in Portland, Oregon at the edge of Forest Park, an urban forest. He has consistently looked towards the landscape for imagery. In Forest Room, the artist holds in balance the duality of order and chaos between the natural and the built environment. In the foreground, the viewer stands in a cabin made entirely of wood and a series of windows framing a seemingly majestic view of a distant deforested landscape. By including a view of a clear-cut forest, Brophy’s illusory harmonious image further speaks to the tenuous relationship between the man-made and nature.

Oil on canvas

79 x 93in. (200.7 x 236.2cm)

Mark Tobey Estate Fund

2003.61

Photo: Richard Nicol, Courtesy Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reclaimed: Nature and Place Through Contemporary Eyes, June 30, 2011 - Sept. 11, 2011.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Baja to Vancouver: The West Coast and Contemporary Art, Oct. 9, 2003 - Jan. 4, 2004 (San Diego, California, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Jan. 23 - May 16, 2004; Vancouver, British Columbia, Vancouver Art Gallery, June 5 - Sept. 6, 2004; San Francisco, California, California College of the Arts Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Oct. 6, 2004 - Jan. 10, 2004). Text by Ralph Rugoff. No cat. no., pp. 26-27, 148, reproduced.

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