There is a palpable tension that is inescapable when confronting Norris’ paintings. This tension is felt most strongly when encountering a painting that has much of its surface charred away or has been blurred, resembling an old daguerreotype.
The driving force behind Norris’ poignant, atmospheric oil paintings of endangered landscapes in America is questioning what gets lost along the way of life – in progress and in transition.
Norris’ background as a seasonal wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service, as well as being made aware of his natural surroundings by his father (also with the US Forest Service) has obviously informed the subject matter to which he’s chosen to focus on. Yet, what compels the artist to make sense of loss, and what comes of it, by literally scorching the surface of his paintings via blowtorch, extends beyond a fascination with this powerful element.
Cody Norris (b. 1981) was born from a surrogate mother in Amarillo, Texas and was raised in a small house about an hour west of Lake Tahoe, California. He grew up surrounded by the vistas of the California Sierras and was educated early in his childhood about land and nature by his father. He earned his BFA from the University of California, Davis, received his MFA from the California State University, Long Beach, and attended a post bac program through RISD. Norris lives and works in Riverside, California with his wife Erynn Richardson and their cat, Kali.
