“Dragging a painting down the
road is a comic gesture turned dark,” artist Margie Livingston tells me. “Originally, I intended to harm a painting, so I could explore the rich potential of mending it. Enacting this gesture was more powerful than I anticipated.” This process by which these finished paintings come together, this dragging, is the focus of Livingston’s solo show Extreme Landscape Painting at Greg Kucera Gallery.
The Seattle-based artist fastens long straps to a canvas or wooden panel, which is usually covered in several alternating layers of gouache and acrylic paint. Livingston then attaches the straps to a harness inspired by those worn by body builders for strength training, and drags the painting facedown behind her across varying environments, like hiking trails, city parks, and asphalt roads.
