About the artist:

Clyde Aspevig's personal and artistic horizons have unfolded expansively since his childhood on a Montana farm near the Canadian border. That period of geographical and cultural isolation was in retrospect a blessing for the artist he recalls. "Because I grew up in a vacuum in Montana, I wasn't taught the cliches." He sees such naivete as allowing him to be more open to everything around him, which is especially evident in his latest works. His peripatetic field easel now ranges across the wild mountains and prairies of Montana, Death Valley, Adirondacks, rocky North Atlantic coast, Scandinavian fjords and the well-tended hillside estates of Tuscany. Growing up, he witnessed the alternatingly painful and joyful cycles of agricultural life. He was unusually fortunate to be encouraged by his family in the pursuits of art and appreciation of music. Clyde learned early on to work hard and persevere against obstacles natural and manmade. Rather than scoffing at or demeaning Clyde's interests, Clyde's father, the practical but open-minded farmer, bought his twelve-year-old son's first painting. He considers his paintings as old friends and visual souvenirs of places experienced in his life. The viewer, too, shares in Clyde's magical evocations of the landscapes that touched him. While his early efforts attracted awards and critical praise from the regional or "Western" sector of the art community, Clyde's work has since emerged to be highly sought after by world class collectors. In a culture notorious for nourishing illustration of stereotypical, iconic subject matter, Clyde fearlessly departed whenever he felt the call, and resisted early attempts by Western art dealers to label him and restrict him to the saleable panoramic scenics. His paintings of the West are not theatrical sets intended to reinforce regional mythology, but rather evocations of places that he perceives as already disappearing during his own lifetime, subjects worthy of both artistic and societal preservation. The paintings reflect Clyde's intense days of absorbing his natural surroundings, days which shaped a philosophy: "I see nature as being so much more powerful than we realize." He sees the true value of preserving the last islands of wilderness, agreeing with the late writer Wallace Stegner that just the fact of knowing it is out there is important to the human spirit. Selected One Man Exhibitions 2009The National Arts Club, New York, New York 2008Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, Colorado 2006Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle, Washington 2005Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, New York 2004Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana 2002Gerald Peters Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico 2001National Arts Club, New York, New York 1998-1999aTrailside Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona 1994Thomas Nygard Gallery, Bozeman, Montana 1993Trailside Galleries, Jackson, Wyoming 1991-1992Trailside Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona 1991Rockwell Museum, Coming, New York 1990Gervais, Columbia, South Carolina 1989-1990Trailside Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona 1988Grand Central Galleries, New York, New York 1986Grand Central Galleries, New York, New York 1986Trailside Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona 1984Trailside Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona 1983Thomas Nygard Gallery, Bozeman, Montana 1980-1981Thomas Nygard Gallery, Bozeman, Montana