Bank Rock Bay No. 9 (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

This nocturne, sometimes referred to by the artist as ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for its ethereal quality, is the ninth installment in a 25-piece series of oil landscapes called ‘The Bank Rock Bay Series’, known for the small inlet of still water located just north of the boat lake and south of The Delacourt Theatre (Joe Papp’s legacy) in New York City’s iconic Central Park. The artist favors this location and subject for a plethora of reasons – primarily, as it is a place, in his words, where “land, air and water collide to create a series of impressions that are all at once enchanting, serene, mysterious, spiritual, evocative and forever changing.” Each image in this series is dominated by the circle, which to Owsley represents the ‘totality’ of life. The artist considers the circle to be one of the great primordial symbols of humankind, and emblematic of life, death and resurrection. You are born, you go, you grow, then come back around. Each series painting, including this one, further uses the square form as its support so that, in his words, he “obliterates any sense of boundary or separation between the elements, further promoting a feeling of connectivity between all facets of the scene, where water, air and earth cohabitate as a single, living, breathing presence.