Seen from an elevated vantage point, a small mountain town unfolds in saturated, jewel-like color. Rooftops of lavender, cerulean, and rose press against ochre and vermilion façades, while a patchwork of overlapping greens climbs the ridgeline behind them. Beneath a pewter sky, a few figures cross the street, cars idle at the curb, and tiny blue birds drift overhead.
Highlands is inspired by Highlands, North Carolina, a place I return to again and again. Rather than record it literally, I distilled its architecture and topography into flat, interlocking planes of color. The composition turns on tension: the cool, quiet gray of the sky and asphalt against the intensity of the buildings, and the strict geometry of crosswalks and parking lines against the soft, scalloped rhythm of the forested hills. The viewer looks down into the scene yet is held at a slight remove, an observer of everyday life in a place that feels both specific and remembered.
