For Janis Sanders, it’s all about light. “My self-assigned task for each work is
to convey the ethereal ‘thing’ of light in paint, as the sun casts its breath on the world — for me sunlight and the outdoors are synonymous. And sacred,”
he said. “Any surface the sunlight falls upon becomes part of the sacred act, the sacred event.”
Within Sanders’ varied landscapes, the one constant is the sky. “I begin each painting with the sky, to me
the most important element,” he explained. “I grew up in Big Sky country, upstate New York. As a youngster, I was always enthralled
and awed by the summer skies. The clouds billow off the Great Lakes and arrive in Syracuse like cotton candy. The sky blue/blue skies blew
me away then, and do to this day. Sky is the key to determining the entire atmosphere of the painting, and visually and practically provides
the backdrop for the other objects in view.”
The subjects of Sanders’ work often comprise a deceptively simple scene: a single building; an open field; the
forthright yet delicate background of pastel blue. Just behind this cohesive composition lays a world of opposing
themes, with an alluring tension created by the interplay of distinctly contrasting elements.
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