George Van Hook paintings

George Van Hook

George Van Hook September Afternoon
September Afternoon, oil on linen

Over his thirty-five-plus years of painting, George Van Hook has established himself among the elite few of New York state's plein air painters. He has exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe, garnering myriad prizes and accolades, and has been the subject of numerous reviews and articles. Recently his painting "A Morning Walk" took first place at the Ocean Park Plein Air Event, and in 2013 he received first prize at the Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival in Canandaigua, New York. Also, Lillidahl Art Instruction Videos recently released a video featuring George Van Hook entitled "How to Paint Impressionism Outdoors."

What differentiates painting en plein air from studio painting is, of course, speed of execution. And what differentiates an accomplished plein air painter like George Van Hook from those less accomplished is the deft placement of each stroke of the brush or palette knife to achieve maximum effect. When the intent is to capture, without the use of photographic aids, a transient light or a fleeting atmospheric condition, there is little time for careful volumetric modeling, for wet-on-wet blending to achieve fine color gradations, or for application of glazes to achieve subtle value shifts. Forms must be laid in broadly and color harmonies established primarily through juxtaposition. Although we should not confuse plein air style with Impressionism per se, there is no question that plein air painting would not be fully possible without the technical liberties championed by the Impressionist painters. Nor should we think that plein air painting can only be achieved in the great outdoors. Executed in the studio with traditional studio props, it is still plein air style.

But we must ask ourselves why plein air style maintains such an enduring hold upon popular tastes. The answer becomes apparent when we carefully consider how we react to one of Van Hook's paintings. George's paintings seem to pull our aesthetic reaction in two oppositional directions at once. We are simultaneously aware of both the transient scene or object depicted and the timeless fact of its depiction. Put another way, our consciousness is divided between the presence of the thing and the presence of the artist. The subject of the painting is there before us and recognizable, be it landscape, still life or figure, but it never fully becomes a real presence. Its emergence into full representation is forever compromised by the gestural presence of the artist. Our aesthetic consciousness vacillates between the thing and the representation of the thing, creating a tension which brings excitement to our viewing experience.

Spring Cast on the River, oil on linen

Yellow House in Snow, oil on board

Yellow Roses, oil on board

The Lute Player, oil on canvas

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