There is often a perspective deep space in the work, which has been described by curators as "Post Symbolism". The paintings evoke mystery and emotion, creating either a strong tension or visual calm, or depicting a natural event about to happen. There are two distinct atmospheres in the work, which visually reveals the duality of the human experience: day and night, and light and dark.

The images are painted from imagination, from a decantation of infinite images I see every day, and particularly on voyages. There are never figures in the paintings, as the human is the sole viewer of his own vision he creates while contemplating the pieces.

I work in traditional mediums; either oil on canvas or dry pastel on paper.

I have had the privilege of several major influences in my art studies: The Minimalist Art period studies in the late 70's at University of California, Irvine; Invited Artist at the American Academy of Rome 1990/91; Studio Assistant to Jennifer Bartlett; Old Masters Copy painting and painting restoration studio workshops in Paris, France; Still Life Painting studio led by Christolfe Gantou, Beaux Arts de Paris.

Artists who inspire me:

Gustave Courbet
David Caspar Freidrich
Turner
Emile Nolde
Odilon Redon
Gerard Richter

Paris, France 2010

"Si, pour le peintre romantique, le paysage était un état d'âme, un lieu où le regard se pose et se repose, c'est à un retournement de la formule que le Symbolisme nous invite: C'est l'état d'âme qui devient un paysage. Mais c'est un paysage vide, un monde désert, illimité, sans borne et sans milieu: "das weite Land"; dira de lui Schnitzler, la terre lointaine, à jamais inconnaissable, à jamais étrangère. La recherche d'une identité essentielle perçue comme proximité de soi à soi est bientôt vécue - jeu périlleux de reflets divergents - comme dépossession de soi, illusion dont la conscience puisse jamais se saisir" Eloge du Visible, Jean Clair

"Baudelaire defined romanticism as "neither a choice of subjects nor exact truth, but a mode of feeling" - something found within, rather than outside the individual - "intimacy, spirituality, color, an aspiration toward the infinite..."

"In this art, neither scenes from nature, nor any other physical phenomena can be present in themselves; what we have instead are perceptible appearances designed to represent their esoteric affinities with primordial ideas." Symbolists Manifesto by Jean Moréas, 1886.

Symbolism is an aspect of art that has always existed in painting and the plastic arts from the earliest times as a periphery component, and accompanying attribute in art. Paintings traditionally 'represent', but can be charged with 'meaning', or the symbol of a state of being, a sensation, or emotions. Inherent meanings become individual interpretations and provide a deeper level of appreciation in contemplating an art piece.

Pastel painter Gianne Harper conveys a personal visual language through her responses to the landscape genre, with the firm conviction that through contemplation of nature, the spectator can be lead to a deeper emotional and spiritual idea of their own symbolic response to the landscape. Thus, these landscapes become visualizations of the inner forest of each individual viewer. The choice of subject matter for this artist is the fruit of interiorization and meditation of her own sensory visions. The context is both for the artist and the viewer, in the same way that a natural landscape presents itself to any viewer and is seen in its entirety, yet perceived by each person according to their own personal experience.

Visual exploration of universal themes and physical elements, the essentials in landscape, can be as simple as sky, horizon, water, air, mountains, trees, lakes, rocks, etc, and are literally recognizable by every person on earth. In these works, the landscape is rendered so that the essential, primitive, primary symbol becomes self evident and self sufficient, coherent in its visual content. These landscapes are not representative of works highly rendered or decorative in order to prove their originality. They are personal, condensed, interiorized images representing the artists' inner landscape of sensation and emotion reduced to its essential.

Which brings us to the reality of perception: how is «realness» in nature individually perceived, and furthermore, how can this image be captured in a pastel painting. The result can never be void of the emotions and sensations with which each individual charges the image, however pure and «realistic» the image can be, thus giving a great liberty of expression to the artist and freedom of interpretation to the viewer.

In Harper's choice of landscapes, there is often the idea coherent with the «sublime», an existing threat by forces of nature, or a seemingly natural disaster about to happen. In a symbolist context, this could be a deeper signification interpreted as man's incapacity and impotence in the face of impending majesty, either positive or negative. The work reflects a long-lasting tradition of symbolism in painting and visual arts. While seeking to transform tradition to yield a contemporary image, there is a "non-reaction" to contemporary expression (site specific, installation, video), yet the work remains continually adjacent to artwork as a symbolist expression.

Harper's pastels exemplify an active, quick sky, never empty heavens, and always show a sense of great distance. The dry pastel technique uses the palm of her hand to grind the pigment powder into the fiber of the paper, making the image one with its support.

There are attributes of "classical landscape" in Harper's work, as were developed by the great landscape painters Claude Lorrain and Poussin, e.g.; sky that covers the large upper part of the piece, and elements such as trees or rocks on either side of the painting to frame the distant subject, and blueness in the sky to show great distance, coupled with Christian content; weather in the heavens symbolizing man's great journey through life, always searching for eternal rest, the tumult of life, solitude. Other artists that are comparable to this landscape tradition and who embraced this symbolist approach are Arnold Bocklin, Munch, Odile Redon, Gustav Moreau, Lovis Corinth, Hodler, Courbet and the movement "Blue Riders" (Die Brucke).

Landscape painting and photography are largely developed in the work of Gerhard Richter, and well described in the excellent catalogue of the recent exposition at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. This exposition demonstrated the influence and inspiration of Caspar David Freidrich, as well as other German Romantic painters had upon Richter throughout his rich and varied career; "A painting by C. D. Friedrich is not a thing of the past. What is past is only the set of circumstances that allowed it to be painted: specific ideologies, for example. Beyond that, if it is any 'good', it concerns us - transcending ideology- as art that we consider worth the trouble of defending (perceiving, showing, making). It is therefore quite possible to paint like C. D. Friedrich today". (Gerhard Richter, 1973).

In viewing a pastel painting by Gianne Harper one can feel the sameness with perceived reality, which quickly becomes abstract, while experiencing the tensions and duality of existence; night and day, light and dark, positive and negative, with their similar symbolic sensations that remain actual and immediate today.

gdg: Paris juin 2008