Executed in 2015, Barge is a beautifully elegant and mesmerizing example from Mary Weatherford’s most celebrated The Bakersfield Project paintings. Beginning in 2012, Weatherford’s career-altering Bakersfield works feature large, highly pigmented and evocative abstract works on linen that are surmounted by one or more colored neon tubes. Here in Barge, a scorching white rod assertively dissects graceful terrains of dynamically shifting navy blue hues, casting an industrial glow on the ethereally monochromatic fields of colour. The immersive result harnesses the uncanny and otherworldly hues of a city illuminated by neon signs at dusk – the inspiration of the series. Featuring enthralling fusions of color, material and light, the Bakersfield paintings drew critical acclaim and increasing interest in the art world in recent years; MoMA curator Laura Hoptman declared: “They made an enormous impression. There is strength and ambition. There is a muscular and deliberate quality to the way she is moving paint around” (Laura Hoptman cited in “With bold brushstrokes and luminous neon, L.A. painter Mary Weatherford comes into her own”, Los Angeles Times, 30 March 2017, online).

The genesis of the series was the sight of a Bakersfield sky; in 2012, Weatherford was driving around the city when she was struck by the shifting atmospheric vision of the Californian horizons illuminated by neon signs – the so-called “magic hour” dubbed by cinematographers to refer to the fading light of sundown. Crucial to the inspiration of the series was the fact that Weatherford was driving and experiencing the world and its sights and sensations in motion; as she says, these works are “about what’s going on in the peripheral vision. It’s motion” (the artist cited in ibid). Throughout the series, Weatherford employs diluted Flashe paint sponged on Belgian linen, creating translucent diaphanous sheens of colour with unique alchemical fusions in gradient and hue. Experiential and mood driven, these works’ titles are buried clues to the diaristic impulse, often alluding to places. It was always the tone of the less conspicuous corners of Los Angeles that inspired Weatherford; in her words: “I’ve never wanted to make paintings about Sunset Boulevard or the center of Los Angeles. I was more interested in the edges of Los Angeles” (the artist cited in ibid).

The expressive potential of the illuminative neon bars creates an intriguing formal dialogue with the surrounding washes and layers of pigment. Weatherford declared that “you can’t look at the painting and look at the light at the same time…there’s a perceptual oddity when you are looking straight at it” (the artist cited in “From the Mountain to the Sea: A Conversation”, in The Neon Paintings: Mary Weatherford, Munich, 2016, p. 202). Meanwhile, the deliberately exposed and artfully arranged electrical cords evoke the peculiar dichotomy between nature and industry. As Geoff Tuck writes: “I don’t think the neon has to do with Dan Flavin’s fluorescent tubes (which feel more overtly political and idea-based), or with any exhumation of Light and Space sensibilities; I think that the box-like transformers and the electrical cords depict the overlay of industry on the landscape of Bakersfield” (Geoff Tuck, “Mary Weatherford: Bakersfield Paintings”, online). Manifesting as sublime explorations of emotive atmospheric experience as well as the formal qualities of light and color, Weatherford’s radical neon bar paintings broke new ground in the realm of abstract pictorial drawing. A celebrated leading artist of our generation, Weatherford’s career is currently the subject of the retrospective “Mary Weatherford: Canyon – Daisy – Eden” at Skidmore College, showcasing three decades of painting.

2015年作品《駁船》出自瑪麗・威特福德備受推崇的「貝克斯菲爾德計畫」系列，是當中優雅迷人的傑作。「貝克斯菲爾德計畫」系列在2012年面世，它的誕生為威特福德的事業生涯帶來重大改變。此系列的抽象亞麻布作品尺幅宏大、色感豐富、富於感染力，畫面上方可見一條或多條彩色霓虹燈管。在這幅作品中，耀眼刺目的白色霓虹燈將一片高貴典雅、充滿動感的海軍藍色一分為二，在這個空靈飄渺的單色色塊上投射出一束工業生產的亮光，構建出霓虹閃爍、光怪陸離的傍晚都市風景——即本系列作品的靈感來源之地。「貝克斯菲爾德」系列炫目迷人，畫面可見多種不同的色彩、媒材與光線共冶一爐。此系列近年來在國際藝壇上漸受關注，好評如潮；紐約現代藝術博物館策展人勞拉・赫普曼指出：「這些作品令人深深震撼。畫中充滿力量、雄心勃勃，顏料在畫面上的流動方式，呈現出強大的魄力與精密的計算手法」（引述自勞拉・赫普曼，〈洛杉磯畫家瑪麗・威特福德以大膽筆觸與霓虹光彩自成一家〉，《洛杉磯時報》，2017年3月30日，網上）。

此系列的誕生，源自於貝克斯菲爾德的醉人天色。2012年時，威特福德在城市中自駕，霎眼被大氣朦朧、變化莫測、霓虹交映，被攝影師譽為「魔幻一小時」的加州日落景緻所震撼。本系列的靈感主要來自威特福德在駕駛途中對四周風景的感受和體驗。正如威特福德本人所言，這些作品「刻畫以邊緣視覺目睹的景象，即動感」（引述自藝術家，同上）。在這個系列中，威特福德採用已稀釋的乙烯基顏料，輕印在比利時亞麻布上，創造出飄渺夢幻的半透明色澤，色彩互相融合、變化多端，主要呈獻出獨特而神秘的效果。這個系列的創作靈感源自個人情感與體驗，常以真實地名為題，為這種日記式創作手法提供了隱藏的線索。威特福德常在一些不見經傳的洛杉磯邊緣地區中獲得啟發，正如藝術家本人 所述：「我從未想過為日落大道或洛杉磯市中心作畫。我對洛杉磯的邊緣風光比較感興趣」（引述自藝術家，同上）。

畫中耀眼的霓虹燈管充滿表現力，與四周的多層顏料與色塊開展了一場引人入勝的形態對話。威特福德直言：「你不能同時觀賞畫作及霓虹燈光⋯⋯當你同時直視兩者，會產生出一種古怪的感覺」（引述自藝術家，〈翻山越洋：一場對話〉，《霓虹燈繪畫：瑪麗・威特福德》，慕尼黑，2016年，頁202）。此外，畫中經過精心安排、故意外露的電線，亦營造出自然與工業的二元對比。正如傑夫・塔克所述：「我不認為畫中的霓虹燈與丹・弗拉文的熒光燈管有關（它們比較著重概念，政治意味十分明顯），或可以發掘出任何光與空間的理念；我覺得這些電線和箱形變壓器，可比喻為貝克斯菲爾德工業與自然風景的並存」（傑夫・塔克，〈瑪麗・威特福德：貝克斯菲爾德作品〉，網上）。這些大膽獨特的霓虹燈管作品，體現了威特福德對充滿情感的氣氛體驗、色感與光線形態特徵的極致探索，見證她在抽象圖案繪畫上創出的嶄新境界。威特福德亦是本世代的先鋒藝術家，斯基德莫爾學院現時舉辦的「瑪麗・威特福德：峽谷——雛菊——伊甸園」回顧展正以其事業生涯為主題，展示威特福德三十年來的創作成果。