KURT GIEHL
Avid fisherman, Giehl and his husband spend much of their time on the waters in and around East Hampton, New York. His seascape paintings are inspired from the numerous fishing trips in local waters on the East End of Long Island. Like so many other artists, Giehl was drawn to the Hamptons for the amazing light and natural beauty. His seascape paintings highlight the subtleness of horizon – where air meets land meets water. Each painting is orchestrated to not only capture the physical beauty of the East End, but to also capture a state of mind, atmosphere and aura of the images captured on these fishing trips.
Giehl’s seascape paintings are intended to induce a level of calm and tranquility. An exaggerated version of the image inspiration, both from a color and composition perspective, Giehl’s seascapes draw the viewer into a surreal and somewhat otherworldly scene.
Giehl utilizes a combination of acrylic and oil to create his seascape paintings. Each painting starts with a base layer of acrylic paint to enhance the depth and ultimate hues of oil paint. Use of brayers are an important aspect to the process Giehl utilizes to create his seascapes. Particularly when painting the sky, brayers add a level of abstraction to the composition. The imprecise nature of layering paint with brayers forces Giehl to embrace unpredictability into his paintings.
Giehl’s approach to seascape paintings is decidedly modern. His deliberately subdued palette and simplicity of subject, transcends the traditional seascape form to an elevated experience.
