Traveling the Unknown Highway with Rocky Hawkins

WALKING ALONG THE GRASSY-BANKED CREEK THAT OXBOWS THROUGH ROCKY HAWKINS’ MONTANA PROPERTY, THE ARTIST TALKS ABOUT THE WAY THIS LANDSCAPE INSPIRES HIS PAINTING. Pointing out a swath of grass he’s cut just today, he considers setting up a sweat lodge, next to the water, the sound of it, the refreshing utility of it. This creek’s murmur will work into one of his paintings, perhaps. Not the literal twist of it carving away at the banks, but the impression of it. Within his Abstract Expressionist images, Rocky Hawkins paints with the gesture of water, the translation of its sound, the suggestion of it, so that a viewer may not see, but will likely sense the flow of the element in a painting.

Enthralled with the lore and spirituality of American Indian cultures, his work often depicts these traditional subjects in nontraditional ways. Hawkins captures the raw sense of elements — natural, emotional and cultural. Raw anger. Raw sorrow. Raw vision. And that is a mysterious thing to explain, but even more mysterious to behold. Unlike the classical approach of most Western artists, Rocky Hawkins asks a bit more from each of us who stop to admire one of his paintings: trust.

“I paint with passion, risk and abbreviated images instead of capturing realism,” Hawkins acknowledges. “Set against transit texture and vivid color, images and figures cannot be situated in reality. These painterly expressions challenge our emotions and communicate with our sense of mystery. Mystery is a part of life. Not everything is easily explainable.”

There is no logical explanation for the color of the animals in Hawkins’ Horses Who Turn Red At Night, yet the brilliant hues of the two horses imply fire, their shadowed
riders — heads smudged to suggest a feathered headdress — threaten rage, anger. Offer this interpretation to the artist and he would nod in agreement. Another viewer may see the red ochre horses with mute riders observing a haunting scene; Hawkins might agree with this version as well. “What you perceive, depends on who you are,” Hawkins is fond of saying in regard to his paintings.

Born in Seattle, Wash., in 1950, Hawkins grew up near the Cascade Mountains. Through family vacations he had an early connection to nature and began drawing on his own at the age of 9. His interest in art continued into adulthood and subsequently drew Hawkins to pursue a fine art education at Burnley School of Professional Art in Seattle. After school, he began his career as a commercial artist and illustrator.