Harry Swartz-Turfle writes about the unique dedication to looking at the core of Rackstraw Downes’ painting practice: “… when you think about how much of modern and contemporary art relies on juxtaposition or exaggeration for effects, Downes’ approach begins to seem downright revolutionary.”

Swartz-Turfle also notes that “[Downes] wanted the discipline of reality’s variation instead of the suppositions that come with ideas about reality. It’s a kind of meta-conceptualism that makes Rackstraw Downes a postmodern plein air painter.”

Rackstraw Downes: Onsite Paintings, 1972–2008 is on view at the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC through August 21. 2011.