374 Always the Same Game

SOLD
Winning Bid Undisclosed
This item SOLD at 2016 Apr 02 @ 16:45UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Category Art
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 5,000.00 USD
Estimated at 10,000.00 - 14,000.00 USD
Always the Same Game
Artist: Boedges, MarkDate of Birth: b. 1973
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24 x 40 inches
Signed: Signed lower left and dated 2016
Verso:

“When I was a boy I used to love to play down by the creek, and the game was always the same: navigate the edge of the stream staying as close to the water as possible without falling in. There was no cheating or taking the easy way out, no going up and around a boulder, for instance. I was adamant about the integrity of the game. This meant it was at times daring and probably a little unsafe; often requiring one to dangle precipitously over open water between fallen branches or stretch precariously between boulders just a little too far apart. Other games were often folded into this one, like War or Tag, but the real focus never wavered. Seasons didn’t matter either, in fact winter was the most fun, especially before the stream had completely frozen over and the stakes for falling in were that much higher.
As an adult and an artist I still find such streams irresistible; the mountains of Vermont are replete with them. Walking in the woods I may follow one for quite a ways, looking for the right spot to set up and paint. I don’t dangle over the edge of anything anymore as I am usually carrying an assortment of unwieldy gear, but some part of my childhood brain is still mapping out a potential, hair-raising route, still tracking all the dips and crags and complexity of the path before me. And when I finally find a spot to paint I like to capture as much of that complexity as I can, as for me it is the essence of such a place.” —Mark Boedges