John Turnbull's paintings, in the words of one observer, "explore the standard genres of landscape, seascape and portrait with an unexpectedly bold application of texture and color. Turnbull's cool and shadowy overtones, suggestive of his many years living by the Great Egg Harbor Bay, draw one into the paintings, where a surprising warmth and depth are found. With its coolness initially offputting, Turnbull's is an art that takes time to accept. Once drawn in, one finds a need to stick around for a while and bask in the 'scattered light exactly at eye level.'" Notably missing from this collection, among many other veins of Turnbull's art, are an elegant series of large abstract works in which shape and brilliant color play at the edge of suggestions of nature, artifact, and human form. Turnbull painted and revised continuously and produced a very large body of work.

Top left: "Together," 1999; completed exactly one year before the artist's death. The figure on the right appears to be a self-portrait. The untitled seascapes are followed by a photo of John Turnbull in front of one of his paintings in an Ocean City home, December 1994. The little houses, which almost appear to float, are from "Home Series," at least five of which are known to exist.
Jerseyworks home  contents  paintings   timeplay  Lake-poetry  Shelly Power interview 
Gerald Stern review  fiction-Sterling Brown  Laszig-poetry 
interview-Sypniewski  poetry-Campbell  photos-Belgium