Welcoming George Van Hook to Sportsman’s Palette

Sportsman’s Palette’s relationship with New York artist George Van Hook has its roots in our shared connection to the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, VT. Exactly a year ago, we struck up a conversation with the artist at a museum event, and several months later, decided to pursue a professional relationship with the artist. We recognized Van Hook’s ability to bring something new & different to the Sportsman’s Palette family. His expressive paint strokes and verdant, earthly color palettes come together on the canvas in a symphony of impressionist styling. His ability to capture the lush beauty of New England waterscapes canopied in lively green flora, while finding space for the angler (both compositionally & emotionally,) is what captures our affection. What’s more, his sporting works appeal to collectors well outside the small niche of sporting art, as the soul of each piece focuses on the individual’s relationship with nature.

Earlier this week, we got caught up with George Van Hook and talked all things landscapes, the beauty of the Northeast and New England, and our responsibility, as humans, to our land. The conversation has been synthesized below, and we hope it sparks similar discussions and inspiration, especially when it comes to mankind’s relationship with nature, and the multitude of artistic endeavors that can flourish out of such inspiration.

Sportsman’s Palette: First of all, welcome to Sportsman’s Palette! We are delighted to have you on board. What is your favorite part about joining a new gallery?

George Van Hook: First, I’ve known of Fred & Sportsman’s Palette for a long time. At an event a year ago at the museum, we started talking and it wasn’t until maybe 15 minutes into the conversation that we put 2 & 2 together and realized who the other was! We had a long fun chat… neither of us proposed moving forward together professionally at that point. It was almost six months later that he approached me with the concept, and I was ready for it and jumped right in! I’ve always admired Fred & gotten a kick out of him.

I appreciate joining a new quality gallery because it will be their role to introduce my work to an entirely new audience. I always want my work to be appreciated by new people, and I’d have to wear two hats if I was always trying to introduce my work to a new audience. By joining a new gallery, you’re suddenly joining a new high echelon venue that will introduce your work to a new audience.

SP: You have an incredible portfolio rich in scenes of the northeast, and your focus on this region is part of what makes us so excited to have you on board! What draws you to paint a particular landscape, be it on the river, in town, or in the countryside?

George Van Hook: I’ve been around great painting and art all my life – growing up near Philadelphia in Bucks County, PA – the Pennsylvania Impressionists and Brandywine School were basically in my backyard. So I grew up on that sort of imagery and painting concept. I also lived in Northern California for 12 years, and I’ve always thought the Pacific Northwest is so great and vast. And then you have Europe, at the opposite end of the spectrum – everything is much older, with centuries of image built on top of image.

When we moved back to the Northeast from California, it started to feel sort of what it was like in the Mid-Atlantic when when I was a kid – similar to Bucks County. We were looking for something particular when we moved back here – I’ve always enjoyed mankind’s relationship to the land in a sympathetic manner. In Bucks County, you have family farms, and a kind of relationship of human to landscape on an individual level. That’s what truly appeals to me – the human relationship to the land in a symbiotic and sympathetic manner.

I’m drawn to the pure beauty of the land itself. For me, the landscape is stunningly beautiful – the way the earth moves, the way the river flows through it, the way the trees grow – they’re all uniquely beautiful, irrespective of man’s presence. New England is an old land, so it’s been carved and curved and gently molded by eons of time. You’re very aware of time here.

SP: You say of your work that you “want the color to be beautiful and the drawing firm and secure” – could you tell us a little more about that?

George Van Hook: That sort of goes back to the art that I grew up on – Pennsylvania Impressionists, the Brandywine School – those are technical aspects.

I fell in love with drawing very early, and have a great deal of respect for draftsmanship. When drawing a landscape, it’s quite different than drawing a figure or still life. But still, a tree has to be drawn correctly, the way a river cuts through a landscape has to be drawn correctly. And I like that. Drawing is the probity of art.

As far as color goes – it’s what your eyes see! I don’t like paintings with muddy color; I like color to be green, clear, decided upon. I don’t like grays, muddy colors – to me, this says the artist hasn’t thought about “what is the process of color mixing, what’s the process of seeing color.” That’s not to say I make my color necessarily super extravagant – I’m not throwing up red trees or whatever, but I still like color to be strong and clear – honest to the landscape.

One of the great things about living in the Northeast is having four seasons – when you’re out there painting in the summer, you can’t even imagine how gray and white the winter is. Because everything is green! When you’re painting a winter scene, you can’t even imagine the land being transformed into the verdant green of summer, the extravagance of autumn, or the brilliance of spring. I am amazed by every season – how fully nature throws herself into that season. Any fashion designer, if they ever want to know “how do I make colors relate” – just go out & look at nature in any season. You go to any nature scene at any time, and all the colors are harmonized. Colors are always harmonized.

SP: When it comes to your fly fishing scenes, what inspires you to paint a particular spot?

George Van Hook: I love waters – rivers, lakes, oceans – there’s something about the environment of water that I just adore. For almost any attractive body of water, I’m happy to look at it and find a picture in it.

I do go up to Montana every year (we had to cancel this year) to paint at a resort that covers ten miles along the Blackfoot River – it’s an amazing river to paint.

When I was living in Northern California, we were in what they call the Six Rivers Forest – everywhere you went, you had a wild & magnificent scenic river. That was a big attraction.

Here in New York, we live three miles from the Battenkill River – it’s a stunning classic New England fly fishing river. I also love to be up in Vermont along the White River and other rivers up there. We’re so lucky here in the Northeast to have this abundance of water – I’m just drawn to it everywhere here.

SP: Do you have one particular favorite subject to paint?

George Van Hook: Not really – I paint figures in my studio and outdoors – I love painting portraits and landscapes. In winter I love painting still lifes. One of the things about still lifes is while they can be the most ‘realistic,’ they can also be the most abstract of my images – you have total control over the design. You can dig deeper into a simplified image, and you can spend as long as you need to on it. No matter what you’re doing with a landscape, there’s a ton more information than you’re going to be able to put on the canvas. With still life, you have a contained environment so you can explore more.

With figures – you’re painting a living person. That in and of itself trumps everything. Same goes for an amazing landscape – you’re painting the world.

Whatever it is, I’m happy just to be painting at the time.

SP: If you could travel anywhere in the world to fly fish & paint, where would you choose?

George Van Hook: I think everywhere! I adore Europe. I love France & Italy – my favorite place on the planet is Venice. I spent a lot of time there when I was younger, and it wasn’t crowded like it is today – there was hardly a soul there. I also lived in Paris for a long time. I love Europe, although it’s become so commercialized – it’s not what it once was.

I also love the Finger Lakes area – it’s truly stunning. And Vermont is just beautiful! Up in Addison County, the view of Lake Champlain is to die for! And out in the Midwest, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is just magnificent. Further out west, whenever I’m near the Pacific, I just love it.

We’re also in Maine all the time – we usually spend two months in Maine every summer, and the coast is spectacular.

There are so many beautiful places in the world, and we have the pleasure to enjoy it all, but more importantly, we have the responsibility to protect and preserve it as well. We have to work really hard on that, because it’s the greatest gift of all.

SP: Who is your favorite artist (other than yourself,) dead or alive, sporting subjects or non-sporting subjects?

George Van Hook: Anytime I’m asked this question I always say, basically every good painter since the Renaissance. There are so many new artists I’m always learning about from the 19th and 20th century – Russian artists, Belgian artists, etc.

I was born & raised into that western art tradition from the Renaissance forward. There have been so many magnificent painters that to try to say “oh, well this one, or that one…” I’m not of that stature that I could say I like this one or that one – you’d have to be God to play that.

So basically, to answer the question: Every artist that painted well, and the many artists who painted greatly since modern western art was reinvented in the Renaissance (500 years ago!!) – That’s a long time for great painters.

View Sportsman’s Palette’s full inventory of George Van Hook’s’ sporting works Here