Ralph Oberg | Freedom to Create

Ralph Oberg ventures deep into the backcountry to capture the wide-open spaces

By Elizabeth L. Delaney

Ralph Oberg, Above It All, oil, 42 x 42.

This story was featured in the July 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

Colorado painter Ralph Oberg is the embodiment of a free spirit. He finds himself most at home not in the flood of civilization but in the quiet, self-sustaining wilderness, surrounded by rugged mountains, wide-open spaces, and native flora and fauna.

Stifled by more traditional workspaces and pursuits, Oberg is continuously compelled to feed his sense of adventure. Hiking, climbing, and simply absorbing the outdoors are integral to Oberg’s sense of self and to his drive to create. He channels this passion for adventure into his artwork, and it is revealed in the wild animals, vast landscapes, and brilliant light that characterize his settings.

Through his art, Oberg wants to share his deep love of the natural world. “It’s one of the greatest gifts we have,” he says. “I want to remind people that we still have a beautiful world, and we need to take care of it.” Personally invested in helping to preserve and sustain the environment, Oberg has been active with various environmental groups for more than four decades. He has donated original paintings and prints to such groups as the Audubon Society, Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to help in their fundraising efforts.

Both adventurer and artist from the very beginning, Oberg never doubted the path he wanted to follow in life. He speaks of discovering his dharma, or singular path in life, at a very young age—a find that gave him the confidence to pursue his passions. “My life and my art are one,” Oberg explains. “I knew I’d be an artist by high school and immediately began to merge my love of the mountain wilderness and the paintings inspired by those wilderness experiences. That has not changed. The peace and joy I still get by pursuing wilderness experiences, from Arizona to Alaska and from Colorado to California and Canada, fulfills my spiritual and personal life and allows me to gather the study paintings and photographs that I use to produce the art that, I hope, communicates some of that joy to others.”

Oberg describes himself as being “always very close to the outdoors,” a portrayal that resonates both literally and figuratively. Growing up in Colorado, he spent most of his free time climbing, hiking, and exploring the scenic, rocky terrain. He relished being able to lose himself in spaces that were peaceful and secluded—far away from the hustle and bustle of more populated areas. Such pursuits have become a defining aspect of Oberg’s life. The respite he seeks in nature drives his urge to create, and vice versa.

Ralph Oberg, Patterns of Spring, oil, 20 x 32.

Oberg took art classes throughout school and ultimately attended Colorado State University on a full art scholarship. Though he worked briefly as a commercial draftsman after he left school, he never lost his longing for the freedom of working for himself, of being able to explore at will and create the work he wanted to create. The course toward his dream was cemented when Oberg traveled to Alaska on a mountain-climbing expedition. Renewed by trekking through the wilderness and basking in the pristine expanses, Oberg decided to pursue his own artwork full time. He embarked on his journey as a freelance artist in the early 1980s.

To augment his earlier, formal schooling, Oberg sought additional instruction in professional workshops. There, he was able to learn from some of the living artists he admired most, several of whom also became mentors, helping him to cultivate his artwork both technically and philosophically. Oberg first studied with noted bird artist Don Malick (1929-1986), and then at the Scottsdale Artists’ School with Clyde Aspevig, Hollis Williford (1940-2007), Skip Whitcomb, and Wayne Wolfe. Additional instructors included Len Chmiel, Michael Lynch, Ned Jacob, and James Reynolds (1926-2010). After his experiences as a workshop student, Oberg went on to teach for a time, to “pay it forward” for the next generation of artists.

Today, Oberg is a signature member of the Plein Air Painters of America and the Society of Animal Artists, among other organizations. His work appears in many public and private collections, including those of the Colorado State Capitol and the Nature in Art Gallery and Museum in Gloucester, England. He has exhibited at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Ralph Oberg, The Golden Warmth of Dawn, oil, 30 x 40.

Oberg and his wife, fellow artist Shirley Novak, live on the western slope of Colorado, in an elevated “valley” at 6,000 feet above sea level, just a short distance from the untamed, mountainous terrain he loves to explore and paint. At 66 years old, Oberg continues to seek outdoor adventures, both close to home and farther afield. Over the past decade, he has completed major expeditions to the mountains of Nepal and Switzerland. This summer, he is planning two more adventure trips—
one deep into the Idaho wilderness and the other up and around a remote Colorado mountain cirque.

“I love wildness,” remarks Oberg. “The fewer people, the better.” He travels into as many remote locations as possible to access the unique peace he finds in unspoiled nature, and in turn, to experience each of his eventual compositions firsthand. He is visually and physically tied to the land, sometimes making his journeys on horseback and sometimes on foot.

Oberg stalks and tracks wild animals to photograph them—usually in the late summer and fall when the animals’ coats and antlers are most hearty. He captures these images largely within national parks, but also via chance encounters in other wild areas. And while he uses photography for this purpose, and to a certain extent for his landscape paintings, Oberg fervently believes in the power of the plein-air sketch to capture and convey the true essence of a place.

Early in his career, Oberg painted almost exclusively from photographs. However, after studying the works and processes of the highly revered big-game artist Carl Rungius (1869-1959), he realized the importance of working from real-life studies. “Trust the sketch, not the photograph,” says Oberg, regarding the best way to portray the actual light, mood, and other details of an outdoor scene. “Plein-air [work] teaches you what the world really looks like.” He advocates for plein-air work as a crucial part of the process for making larger paintings. It is an important step in his own process, and it facilitates his ability to paint with a spontaneity that is more challenging to achieve in a studio setting.

Oberg varies his compositions evenly between pure landscapes and those featuring wildlife. His landscapes reveal the majesty of mountainous vistas that rise up to meet the clouds and dip down to join the verdant forest below—all void of any traces of human existence. The wildlife canvases situate the animals in naturalistic backgrounds. His depictions of wolves, elk, bison, rams, and other creatures often act as snapshots of moments frozen in time amid ever-
changing scenes.

Oberg prefers to paint large-scale compositions, which he feels allow him to most effectively communicate the vastness of his material. Perhaps the most striking technical elements in his work are the dynamic yet gentle light that pervades each space, in addition to the intricate color gradations that give dimension and texture to the imagery.

Ralph Oberg, The Weaver’s Inspiration, oil, 24 x 40.

“I’m consistently a traditionalist,” says Oberg of his painting style, which remains decidedly naturalistic while, at times, taking a more impressionistic tack with the individual brush strokes. He wants to make compositions that are “realistic but not photorealistic,” he says, that reflect their subject matter as it is in nature but that also celebrate the physicality of the pigments and the two-dimensional quality of the canvas. Recently, he has been moving away from strict delineation and toward a more painterly approach, revealed in thicker pigment application, increasingly nuanced brushwork, and greater paint manipulation. “The challenge is to leave behind my renderer and discover my painter,” he says of the evolution.

Oberg says, “I’m fortunate to do what I do. It’s not the easiest way to make a living, but it’s one of the most enjoyable.” In all, Oberg’s oeuvre signifies the outward expression of his inner need for adventure and creative expression, along with the inextricable ties between his spiritual self and his artistic output. For him, these are primal facets so interconnected that one could hardly thrive without the other. “To be able to create things of beauty from my personal experiences is pretty totally fulfilling,” Oberg remarks. “I am living my dream, and I feel I’m among the most fortunate of people. It’s not about money but the creative fulfillment of a lifestyle based on beauty.”

representation
Trailside Galleries, Jackson, WY, and Scottsdale, AZ; Simpson Gallagher Gallery, Cody, WY; Sportsman’s Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Paderewski Fine Art, Beaver Creek, CO; Wood River Fine Art, Ketchum, ID; Oh-Be-Joyful Gallery, Crested Butte and Telluride, CO; Goodnight Trail Gallery, Mancos, CO.