William Haskell paints the energy of the Southwestern landscape. He explains, “The main thing I want is for every painting to have an emotional energy—a subliminal energy and motion in it.”
A new exhibition of his recent work, William Haskell: Visions of the Sacred Desert,opens at Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, on January 16.
Ascension of the Desert Soul, acrylic on panel, 36 x 24 in.
Haskell was born in Wisconsin, where Georgia O’Keeffe was born, and he was introduced to the modernist’s work by his mother. Later, he had a career in design and advertising—painting on the side. Although his career was a good fit, it wasn’t something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2001. When we spoke last year, he said, “I think it’s the kind of place where you either feel a spiritual connection to it, or you don’t get it.”
His spiritual connection to the landscape and his interpretation of the physical and spiritual energy of it have informed his distinctive style. I asked him about a painting in this year’s exhibition and how it reflects his connection to the landscape.
Rider of the Painted Sky, acrylic on panel, 36 x 48 in.
“My goal in creating Ascension of the Desert Soul is to have the painting evoke the sense of a spirit rising through the vast, sun-sculpted landscape of the Southwest. The cactus stretches upward like a living conduit between earth and sky, its forms both grounded and transcendent. Warm stone hues and cool, crystalline blues converge to suggest inner awakening—an emergence of resilience, memory and quiet power rising from the heart of the desert,” Haskell says. “I have always been drawn to the desert, even as a child, before seeing it in person I was intrigued and inspired by the sparse beauty of it. After visiting I knew that it would be a place that I would spend the rest of my life absorbing, and the more time I spend in it the more I am drawn to the natural abstraction, the amazing quality of the light, and the stark simplicity. In the title of the painting, I have referred to the desert soul, which to me is the quiet, enduring spirit that awakens when one connects deeply with the raw, unadorned beauty of arid landscapes. It reflects the wisdom of open space, the resilience of life that thrives in harsh conditions, and the calm clarity found in stillness. To carry a desert soul is to feel attuned to the earth’s ancient patience—rooted, observant and transformed by the subtle, sacred dialogue between sand, stone, sky and silence.” —
Tree of the Timeless Desert, acrylic on panel, 20 x 16 in.
Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery 6872 E. Sunrise Drive, Suite 130 » Tucson, AZ 85750 » (520) 722-7798 » www.medicinemangallery.com
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