Benjamin Langford

Twilight, 2024

Benjamin Langford’s vast Twilight (2024) was originally an image shot in the Catskill Mountains, on a hike adjoining a community known as Twilight. I am interested in referencing the Hudson River school, who often painted landscapes of that region, and the motif of placing rugged, gnarled woods as a foreground to a more pastoral grand landscape that beckons the viewer. In this work, the gnarled woods deny access to the pastoral landscape– the landscape feels more like a stage backdrop with the chaotic interweaving of branches dominating the entire surface of the image The trees create a sense that the viewer is almost barricaded inside them– I find this feeling comforting– the idea of being enveloped by dark, chaotic nature– it’s a version of the sublime to me, but almost inverted, no longer about vastness but about being held by a nature that is cold, shadowy, and dark. –Benjamin Langford

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