{"id":6588,"date":"2019-05-25T14:27:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T19:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=6588"},"modified":"2019-05-25T17:48:06","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T22:48:06","slug":"a-journey-of-freedom-the-art-of-harlan-bonar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2019\/05\/25\/a-journey-of-freedom-the-art-of-harlan-bonar\/","title":{"rendered":"A Journey of Freedom: The Art of Harlan Bonar"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]PLATE 1.<\/span> Harlan Bonar in his Knob Noster studio.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

A Journey of Freedom: The Art of Harlan Bonar<\/h1>\n

BY JOSHUA HESTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rolling, grass-covered hills west of Sedalia, Missouri, mark a transitional territory where the tall grass prairies converge with the northwestern Ozark Hills. The place is pastoral, but it is here \u2014 in an unassuming studio near the village of Knob Noster \u2014 visionary artist Harlan Bonar creates sprawling scenes of a far more extraordinary variety.<\/p>\n

I visited with Bonar last August and, as a dry summer wind gusted through the studio, Bonar began detailing his journey \u2014 a journey that consistently results in a variety of dominant, visually arresting (at times provoking) images, all created with an eye toward history and a hand heavy in pure color oils applied thickly to often-massive canvases.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know if I have a style,\u201d explains Bonar. \u201cI do different things. I try to paint differently. I try to innovate, to fine-tune as I go. When I paint, I try to have an idea of what I want [the painting] to look like, but I\u2019ve never had formal training. People want to call me an outsider.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6624″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]It\u2019s not a inappropriate label, considering that much of Bonar\u2019s artistic development has been a lonely journey, away from art institutions or the academics of the fine art world at large. However, if there is a signature style to this Missouri artist\u2019s work, it is that Harlan Bonar\u2019s style \u2014 while consistently recognizable \u2014 cannot be pigeonholed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got my own ways of looking at stuff,\u201d he notes quietly. \u201dAs an artist you have to find your own individuality. I\u2019ve been painting for 35 or 40 years. I try to be serious and meaningful. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m preaching to people but rather working to open them up to ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonar is just now being discovered by the greater art world of the Midwest. His Union Station in the Rain was included in the Top 50 juried choices of the 2011 Missouri State Fair Art Show in Sedalia. The Missouri Arts Council has selected the same piece for special mention in the coming year.<\/p>\n

Despite the variety of work Bonar has produced, it is often his Civil War-themed pieces that garner the most attention. The thrust behind the paintings might surprise viewers believing the artist to be little more than a history buff or Civil War aficionado.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The era] was a significant period that defined what America really is. That conflict was about freedom. The South wanted to be free from the North. The North wanted to preserve a union of free men. The end result? Men freed from bondage.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the Revolutionary War we broke away so in essence it was a war about principles of individual freedom. Yet there was a people in slavery here, so it was hypocritical in a sense. The Civil War was a conflict that really shaped our country and made it into great country. We were the first country to establish a democracy with lasting power.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica is unique in a sense that it has its own political and social basis. We were founded on the idea of freedom, of liberty. I think it is a significant subject.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6629″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]A consistency found throughout Bonar\u2019s work is a duality of awareness, often a mixing of the sacred and profane, the militant with the peaceful. The Battle of Shiloh is an excellent example. \u201cI wanted to have close combat shown and yet in the background is a very quiet, serene landscape. It\u2019s the contrast between the landscape and the fighting that lends a certain broadening of the senses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe musketry was so advanced [by that era] you could kill a man at 500 yards so there were few instances that men were killed at close range. To paint that would be artistically difficult. But in the Battle of Shiloh, it was essentially two mobs of men killing each other. Most were untested in combat and it turned into a bloody two-day slug-fest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to paint this horrific battle with a beautiful landscape. That\u2019s why I love art. It is so liberating and it can do whatever you want it to do. You have such freedom and I want my art to be interesting to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonar has \u2014 at times \u2014 encountered criticism for his direct portrayal of the human form. \u201cI\u2019m trying to be historically accurate, not profane,\u201d he concludes. \u201cBut I like to have certain elements in my paintings that are different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had a certain fascination with the human figure and it is one of the hardest things to paint. I\u2019m not trying to create pornography but nudes have been in art forever. It is one of the challenges. Sometimes you are walking a pretty fine line but I think it is important to stretch boundaries.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6625″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]From voluptuous nudes to human slaughter to poignant moments of history and mythology, Harlan Bonar\u2019s thick layers of vibrant oil tell a story. Few pieces, however, contain the vigor of his Bible-inspired pieces.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6626″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]\u201cI like doing religious paintings. I believe in God. He has a role in our lives. At the same time, how many times do we betray God?\u201d asks Bonar, in reference to the Kiss of Judas<\/em>.<\/span> \u201cHow many times do we take on the role of Judas in our perception of God?<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody does it to a certain extent in different things we do and the way we interact with people. I hope the painting brings an awareness of God, our relationship with God, and how we betray God.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6628″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]And when Bonar\u2019s signature visionary realist style is limiting to a personal emotion? A transition to surrealism or expressionism is often the result.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6627″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]\u201c I painted Old Man in the Mountain<\/span><\/em> right after 9\/11,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe figure at the top with blood on his hands is Osama Bin Laden. All these other figures are symbolic and monstrous. He was a terrorist and had perverted religion for whatever reason. The Islamic religion is beautiful but certain elements lend itself toward horrendous acts. Violence begets violence and that is not exclusive to Islam. It\u2019s not what God intends. He doesn\u2019t want us to kill each other. That is the first of the Ten Commandments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to New York City for the first time just two weeks before September 11, 2011. It was an amazing place. And then to see all these horrible things just a short time later? This piece is more or less a reaction to all that. It was my own way of interpretation. You have a hell of a lot of freedom as an artist and I like that freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published OCTOBER 4, 2011<\/span><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_text_separator title=”Story credits…” title_align=”separator_align_left”][vc_column_text]PHOTOS BY J. HESTON. STATEOFTHEOZARKS MEDIA INC., PHOTOS TAKEN AUGUST 23, 2011.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]PLATE 1. Harlan Bonar in his Knob Noster studio.[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text] A Journey of Freedom: The Art of Harlan Bonar BY JOSHUA HESTON The rolling, grass-covered hills west of Sedalia, Missouri, mark a transitional territory where the tall grass prairies converge with the northwestern Ozark Hills. The place is pastoral, but it is here \u2014 in an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[949,582,529],"tags":[1120,1121],"class_list":["post-6588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozarkfinearts","category-sotoarchive","category-sotoart","tag-harlan-bonar","tag-knob-noster","category-949","category-582","category-529","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6588"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6630,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588\/revisions\/6630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}