Essay by Mason Riddle WRITTEN IN 1988
			THE WEST BANK APARTMENTS 1985
		With the advent of such modern painters as Manet, Picasso, Gorky, Pollock and others,small-scale easel painting seemed on the verge of extinction.In his influential 1948 essay,"The Crisis of the Easel Picture," the formalist art critic Clement Greenberg all but declared the death of easel work, Traditional easel painting,which according to Greenberg"cuts the illusion of a box-like cavity into the wall behind it, and within this,as a unity, it organizes three dimensional semblances,"seemed irrelevant. At the time of the essay's writing, the art world was dominated by monumentally-scaled, non-representational paintings covered by an "all-over" application of paint Qualities of the surface and edge were held paramount while notions of representation,realism and narrative were spurned. The idea of a painting functioning as a realistic view-a window onto the world- was all but dead. By the1960s, it seemed it would be this way for ever . As time and taste would have it, however, a new generation of artists appeared in the late 1970s who were concerned with ideas of representation, the rejuvenation of art historical styles, and the intimacy of easel painting. While many have been interested in the irony inherent in appropriating past modes for the creation of presenting meanings, others have been exploring traditional styles,for their narrative potential and the challenge of painting the world around them. With his small scale landscapes that capture not only the look but the spirit of the Upper Midwest region, Minneapolis artist Don Holzschuh is an active participant in the latter category and living proof that easel painting is not dead. There is found in Don Holzschuh's paintings and mono types of urban scenes an immediacy and freshness that all but equals that of his person. Lively,full of bald humor and a raucous sense of play,Holzschuh injects a forthright sense of people and places into his animated,richly-hued scenes. His views of northern Minnesota hayfield or a Wisconsin beaver dam are no less bracing than his colorful almost claustrophobic visions of Minneapolis' skyline. Functioning as a visual extension of his speech, Holzschuh's work is direct yet anecdotal,truthful yet often punctuated with wry jokes. It is this gregarious but sensitive response to his surroundings that distinguishes his paintings from the pack, making them much more than worn out recapitulations of the centuries-old landscape genre. Holzschuh's paintings, whether they are of skyscrapers, ice skaters or grazing sheep, also demonstrate his ability as a colorist vibrant reds and greens are juxtaposed with blues and yellows to marvelous effect in to 1985 paintings,"West Bank Apartments" and "First Snow." In his more recent 1988 work, the palette is more subdued and naturalistic as evidenced in the lyrical "Springtime,Irvine Park," "Landmark Center,St. Paul,"or even in the bustling"Construction." In these  there is a heightened use of purple,magenta,mauve and grey tones which infuse the works with a more realistic atmospheric quality. Holzschuh's works also function as historical documents of the Twin Cities urbanscape. The radical changes in Minneapolis' skyline are recorded in several paintings, while others scenes are of buildings no longer standing. In the same way his urban works capture the constantly shifting energy of the city, his rural landscapes convey the quiet timeless quality of the country. In "Pumpkin Field" and "Hayfield," both from 1987,there is not only a sense of the here-and-now,but also a sense of nature's sublime eternity. In spite of Holzschuh's facility for capturing a sense of time and place, his paintings are never filled with sentimental flourishes or tedious detail so often the downfall of work by artists who paint their immediate environment. If some contemporary landscapes appear to be little more than a compilation of visual data spewed out by computer buffs more captivated by the process than the vision, then Holzschuh's paintings seem to be the passionate result of remarkable hand-eye coordination,the visual synapse of one who keenly sees-and feels-his environment. For all their immediacy,Holzschuh's paintings are not the product of a formal art education. Born in Saint Paul,Minnesota and raised in the rural townships encircling the Twin Cities, Holzschuh  has been a Minneapolis resident since 1980. In 1974 he began to "dabble" with watercolors, working "en plein aire" as did the French Impressionists. In the same year he briefly enrolled at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design(MCAD) to study film and video while nurturing an interest in cartooning. After three more years of "dabbling" and working odd jobs like"driving truck," and "running tape" at 3M, he once again enrolled at MCAD in film and design. With little encouragement forthcoming for his ideas, Holzschuh dropped out a second time and began to study watercolors and oils at the Minnetonka Art Center under David Swanson and Jerry Lefevre, respectively. In 1985 he committed to a full-time career as an artist-or as much as his finances would permit. Holzschuh's is a simple,uncomplicated response to painting. His intuitive,gestural style reflects his desire to paint what he feels and sees before him, not what is fashionable or what others have said constitute an acceptable landscape. He works outdoors whenever possible, convinced that the natural light encountered imparts a rich,three-dimensional quality to his work. Although a self-described traditionalist, Holzschuh has no personal philosophy about painting,originality,or art history. Largely uninfluenced by any one artist, he admires a range including Manet, Gauguin,the Impressionists, the Hudson River School, Braque, Hans Hofman and a number of 1930s Realist painters. Ironically, Holzschuh never mentions the 20th century artists to which his work can be most closely compared: the Ash Can School painters, Charles Burchfield,and Edward Hopper, or even the writer Sinclair Lewis. He also mentions Twin Cities artist Mike Lynch and Rod Massey as important landscape painters, and Leon Hushcha as a fine colorist. "It's hard to put something I enjoy into philosophy," Holzschuh explains."It's something that I feel in response to what I see. I can't say I'm going to paint like Cezanne with a little Warhol thrown in-and do it." Nor is Holzschuh concerned about his work being judged or sanctified by any stylistic or philosophical movement, historical or contemporary. Instead, the artist believes the work should"stand up by itself-without the crutch of history behind it." To come face to face with a Holzschuh landscape is to breath in the cultural tenor of a place-its topography, architecture and people. These are not factual records but intuitive interpretations of a region in which a quality of experience is captured, not a set of details. In the 20th century scheme of things,Holzschuh's paintings are relatively small-easel paintings in the truest sense-yet they are compelling,almost monumental, in their openness and density of experience. MASON RIDDLE  xx