John A. Sargent III (1961 -)
Memory Play, 2022
Materials and dimensions: oil on canvas, 40”x 30"
Location at Summa: Juve Family Behavioral Health Pavilion, second floor, Northwest hallway end wall, outside office P5
This work was commissioned by Summa Health specifically for this location.
About the art and the artist:
This seascape was commissioned on the basis of the artist's ability to create vividly realistic settings which invite the beholder to "fill in" details from personal experience. John A. Sargent informs us that the title evokes a series of earlier commissioned paintings to which this image - created from reference photos shot on the beach in Florida -- refers as a memory of a particular time and place. However, he aims here to create a work for everyone, regardless of particular memories, as an occasion for meditation.
The sunny sky with those ascending mare's-tail clouds, the bright sea where the few distant whitecaps break gently on the shore just in front of us, and the centered horizon all contribute to a sensation of motion, but motion in balance, quite calm. And with the size of the canvas, the artist invites us closer, to be a part of this evocation of nature, always changing but here in a moment of quiet and peace. He says that he paints in order to concentrate on the "elusive and allusive qualities of color and light" which then become the vehicle for other responses by the beholder.
John A. Sargent III grew up in Cleveland and earned the B.A. degree in studio arts and American Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. He then returned to Ohio to earn an M.F.A. in painting from the Ohio State University. He has taught as an adjunct professor of drawing and painting for the Ohio State University, at Tri-C Metro and Tri-C East, as well as at the Orange Art Center and the Albright Knox Museum in Buffalo. The Ohio Arts Council recognized his work with an Individual Excellence Award in 2015. He is represented by the Bonfoey Gallery in Cleveland and Cade Tompkins Projectsin Providence, RI.
Where you can find more works by this artist:
The artist maintains a comprehensive website which provides a good overview of his portraiture, landscapes, seascapes, and special projects. His paintings have also been published in journals such as New American Painting and Studio Visit magazine.
He has exhibited widely, including many times in Cleveland, Columbus, Youngstown, and Kent, as well as many other venues in Ohio; in Boca Grande (Florida), New York, and Venice, Italy. His work may be seen in such collections as the Progressive Insurance collection, Kaiser Permanente, Cleveland Metrohealth Hospital, the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western, and the Cleveland Clinic, as well as in the Smithsonian and the United States Supreme Court. He won the Best in Show award from the Artist Archives in 2022, among many awards over the years.
Where you can find more works like this:
In the Summa Collection, you can find other waterscapes by Michael Greenwald, Hilary Gent, George Mauersberger, and Lori Kella, who deal with not only the sea but other bodies of water (lakes and rivers). Many other artists, such as Ian Adams, explore watery settings in order to create other kinds of landscapes.