Clyde Aspevig

Clyde Aspevig’s landscape paintings show his meticulous renderings of expansive environments. He grew up entranced by the geology and minutiae of the landscape just south of the Canadian border in Montana. In the 1970s, Aspevig studied under Ben Steele at Eastern Montana College, a prolific draughtsman and painter who rendered the nuanced atmosphere of the American West. As a plein air painter, Aspevig creates a meditative space to faithfully illustrate the effects of light and texture in oil paint. The artist pays special attention to phrasing his compositions like a musical score, where every breath or legato is purposeful even if it betrays the photorealism of the scene. These images are as much about aesthetic adoration as they are preservation. They propel viewers to consider the imminent deterioration of these natural resources and the consequences of disturbing their silence. He seeks out environs undistorted by cultural influence: the Montana prairie, Death Valley, fjords in Scandinavia, and the hills of Tuscany, among others.

Aspevig has shown extensively in both solo and group exhibitions. He was also the first Montanan to exhibit work at the Grand Central Galleries in 1988 New York City since Charles M. Russell in 1927. Otherwise, Aspevig has exhibited at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Los Angeles, the National Arts Club, New York, and Santa Barbara Historical Museum, among many others. He was granted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in 2004, among other accolades.