Robert Josiah Bingaman

"Nevada"  2010, acrylic on linen, 54 x 120 in

"Nevada"  detail

"New Mexico"  2010, acrylic on linen 54 x 96 in.

"Concavity"  2010, acrylic on linen 54 x 42 in.

"Minnetonka Senescence"  2010, acrylic on linen 42 x 54 in.

Robert Josiah Bingaman is an artist of the open, empty American spaces. Which is to say that he is an artist of the west. Or perhaps the idea of the west. He has set out on the road to find and photograph the lonely spaces that haunt the American imagination. His work focuses especially on such scenes at night when the artificial lights of the human presence transform the landscape into a dreamlike place, where one can be still be filled with awe by the empty darkness on every side. By taking his photographs and memories and transforming them into these almost surreal paintings he is, in some way, able to take us with him. Or rather, allow us to inhabit his experience. For these are not visions one shares. They are an expression of what it means to be lost and gloriously alone and stare dumbfounded at the strange world we've created in a vast dark land.

You can see more work on his website (robertjosiah.net) and there's a fine video of his process of the first painting ("Nevada"). But be warned that the first half of the video is of prepping the canvas and only the second half gets into the painting itself.