Artwork Description
Clear Channel
Dimensions: 24 x 26″ approx
Year: 2005-6
Media: 4 plate color etching
Scott Greene’s four plate color etching work, Clear Channel, draws on art historical elements by referencing the work of artists such as William Turner and his classical depictions of ships at sea. Greene, however, interrupts the audience’s ability to associate the scene within a specific temporal context by adding contemporary items to the work; rather than being made from canvas, the ship’s sails are composed of satellite dishes that serves as a commentary on technology and global development facilitated by communication. The title, Clear Channel, is a direct riff off of Clear Channel Communications, the nations largest owner of radio stations. The frigate cements the metaphor by referencing the naval empires of the 18th and 19th centuries. Greene raises and permits the audience to answer several questions within the work; where is the ship going? What is its purpose?
Scott Greene’s work is not associated with a definitive time period, but instead, works to integrate art historical and classical elements into a more contemporary approach. Greene’s work functions as a form of socio-political commentary and “uses the composition of a historical work as a matrix for making a painting that humorously examines the relationship between politics, nature and culture”. Greene draws on themes such as beauty, popular culture, and the natural environment in an additive artistic process that emphasizes the visual and temporal effects of building rather than executing a work in a single instance. After studying in California and receiving his BFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, Greene moved to New Mexico, where he received his MFA in painting and has since lived for almost 30 years. Greene’s work derives much of its influence from this matrix; where he describes that, “the expansive space, vivid light and western frame of reference informs the narrative content in my work, and the alien beauty of high desert skies serve as backdrops for many compositions”. Greene also touches on the complex interplay between beauty and environmental exploitation within his oeuvre—an issue he sees as being both pertinent to and prevalent within New Mexico, today.