Winter 2005

Bart Bemus: Intimate Landscapes

By Lori Rotenberk
Photo of Bart Bemus at Skokie Lagoon by Pat Wadecki

When he first arrived in Chicago, oil painter Bart Bemus wasn't sure where to find his subject matter. Friends were unable to guide him to area nature preserves, so he studied maps and took long drives. Before long, though, Bemus discovered Chicago WILDERNESS. Today, the magazine is his guide to what often appears on his canvas.

"I've been painting since I was 11 years old," says the 42-year-old Ohio native, who lives in Chicago and works as a freelance artist for a handful of the city's top advertising agencies. "I spend so much time outdoors that it was only natural to put the two things together and begin to paint while I'm outside." Some years ago, Bemus moved to Seattle so he could climb mountains. In 1993, however, he moved back to the Midwest for work, and he says he has come to enjoy the heartland's "more intimate landscapes." The summer humidity here and play of light at dusk add a depth to scenes that intrigues him.

Middlefork Savanna — Golden Poplars, by Bart Bemus

"The beauty is subtle here," he says. "There are more trees, and trees are a central part of my subject matter. I like the shape and variety of trees, and I like painting them close-up or in the distance. I also like recurrent themes that are mysterious — openings among the trees that take the eye into the distance..."

From the Grosse Point Light House in Evanston, Illinois, by Bart Bemus

Bemus has painted in the rain, at nightfall, and in the dead of winter, when his paint tubes have frozen stiff. "I feel a sense of home when I am outdoors," he says. "I've fallen in love with nature. I get lost when I'm painting, and the time goes very fast. What happens is I connect with the subject and its emotional theme, be it the weather change or the sunlight change, and hope to transfer it and lock it into the painting."

Bemus' show, "En Plein Air," runs from now through January 8 at Bell Studio, 3428 N. Southport Avenue in Chicago. Call (773) 281-2172.