Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Todd Carpenter
"Truth as a Poetic Lie" (2019) By Todd Carpenter, Landscape Oil Painting

2019

About the Item

Todd Carpenter's (US based) "Truth as a Poetic Lie" is an oil painting that depicts a black and white landscape full of dense trees and foliage, blotted out by something reminiscent of fog or sun rays. Bio/artist statement: Todd Carpenter is a Los Angeles based artist who uses black and white paint to explore the perception of space and beauty. Carpenter's formal education is in science - he holds a MS in Neuroscience from UCSD and a BS in Psychobiology from UCLA - and he brings this background into service when making art. His paintings explore the mechanisms of perception and aesthetics, examining among other things how the depiction of light can impart realism and convey emotion. Like his paintings bridging art and science, Carpenter's career has similarly straddled the two fields, and he has taught subjects ranging from neuroscience and environmental science to photography and painting. Artist Statement As a painter, I am particularly interested in how the depiction of light contributes to our experience of paintings. Painting, as with any visual art, is obviously dependent on light. But painting can also have a more specific connection in that the accurate depiction of light is crucial for achieving realism. Realism in paintings largely arises from the portrayal of depth - perceiving a painting as being realistic is equivalent to seeing its subject as existing in more than just the two dimensions of the picture plane - and one of the mechanisms by which humans perceive depth is through lighting cues. Light creates features such as shading, shadow, and contrast that tell us about the three-dimensional arrangement of our surroundings, and artists often use these features to impart realism to paintings. Light also factors in to the emotional impact of paintings. The differential illumination of our surroundings can evoke different moods, as evidenced by the influence sunsets, candlelight, and darkness can have on us. Such effectssuggest that our perception of light could be tied to primitive instincts, with light signaling factors such as shelter, nightfall, and warmth, which were once crucial for survival. The depiction of light in paintings can potentially tap into these primitive responses, to contribute to the emotional impact of the painted scene. One reason why I paint in grayscale is that it is suited for the portrayal of light. The lighting features that our brains use to perceive depth are based on color brightness rather than hue, and the parts of the brain that process depth work in black and white, separate from the areas that encode the colors and details we use to distinguish objects. By painting in grayscale I am attempting to interact specifically with this part our visual system, with the hope of imparting a degree of realism and perhaps even conveying some of the emotional significance that light can imbue. It is through light that we see the world, but light itself is also seen, with an impact independent of the subjects transmitted by its waves. Light is both the crisp contrast of a back-lit forest and the gray haze of an industrial landscape, and the perceptual power of light is what communicates the atmosphere of such places. This ability of light to effect us is the principle subject of my paintings.
  • Creator:
    Todd Carpenter
  • Creation Year:
    2019
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Denver, CO
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU130826893572

More From This Seller

View All
"Unloading Truck" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
David Shingler's (NC based) "Unloading Truck" is an oil painting that depicts a industrial scene of a construction worker standing with a full loading truck Bio/artist statement: ...
Category

2010s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Spring Mountainside" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Seth Winegar's (US based) "Spring Mountainside" is a handmade, original oil painting that depicts a gently sloping mountain colored green with fresh growth as a small homestead sits at its base. Bio/artist statement: Seth Winegar is a fine art oil...
Category

2010s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Summer Garden" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Seth Winegar's (US based) "Summer Garden" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a rose bush with pink petals in the blue twilight and a small...
Category

2010s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Sidewalks in Greys" (2021) By Jim Beckner, Original Cityscape Oil Painting
By Jim Beckner
Located in Denver, CO
Jim Beckner's (US based) "Sidewalks in Greys" is an oil painting that depicts a busy city sidewalk and street at night cast in the fluorescent light of the signs and cars and passers...
Category

2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Drain of Progress" (2024) By Todd Carpenter, Original Oil Painting of Cityscape
Located in Denver, CO
Todd Carpenter's (US based) "Drain of Progress" is an oil painting that depicts a black and white cityscape skyline with a large body of water passing through the middle. Bio/artist...
Category

2010s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Light Fades" (2024) By Todd Carpenter, Original Oil Painting of Cityscape
Located in Denver, CO
Todd Carpenter's (US based) "Light Fades" is an oil painting that depicts a black and white valley with pine trees and foggy mountains. Bio/artist statement: Todd Carpenter is a Lo...
Category

2010s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

You May Also Like

Quai de Louvre - Impressionist Cityscape Oil Paiting by Luigi Loir
By Luigi Loir
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed figures in cityscape oil on board circa 1900 by French impressionist painter Luigi Loir. The piece depicts a view of the quai du Louvre by the River Seine in Paris, France at ...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

"Along The Creek" Point Pleasant Pike Bucks County Bucks County PA River Snow
Located in New York, NY
A wonderful Impressionist winter pastoral scene of colorful quaint homes by the river. Willet has portrayed this piece in a most intimate, yet energetic way, and has packed much feel...
Category

20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Mid 20th Century Canadian snow covered landscape, Halliburton Highlands Ontario
Located in Woodbury, CT
Outstanding Oil on board a snow-covered Canadian landscape of the Haliburton Highlands near Ontario. Andrew B Phin is a painter, who is listed as a 20th-century Canadian painter of ...
Category

1960s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Lobster Pots" Gloucester Massachusetts Seashore Scene Oil Painting with Figure
Located in New York, NY
Impressionist seashore landscape with figure of fisherman, lobster pots, and crashing waves in Gloucester Massachusetts. Willet has portrayed this piece in a most dramatic and energetic way and has packed much feeling into this miniature work. It is almost as if we are there in the waves in the early morning, with the man and his lobster pots. Christopher is known for capturing the beauty and simplicity of an earlier time of the 20th Century; old New York, families working together, villages and farms and friends taking walks together. Many are depicted in recognizable historical settings and this piece is an excellent example of this. Christopher engages his audience with the quick use of brushwork and great attention to picking up the energy passionately of his subjects. The piece comes housed in a decorated dark tone wood frame and it is ready to be displayed with hanging wire on verso. Art measures 5 x 7 inches Frame measures 7.25 x 9.25 inches Christopher Willett...
Category

20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Mediterranean Cottages with Red Roof Tiles in Rural European Countryside
Located in Preston, GB
Mediterranean Cottages with Red Roof Tiles in Rural European Countryside by Irish Artist Art measures 7 x 4 inches Frame measures 13.5 x 10.5 inches Impressionistic painting usi...
Category

Early 2000s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Western Landscape by New England Impressionist painter
By Richard Edward Miller
Located in Doylestown, PA
This Western Landscape by New England Impressionist painter Richard Edward Miller is a 12.5 x 23.5 inches, oil on board painting from 1931. A plein-air and impressionist painter as ...
Category

1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Recently Viewed

View All