Minnesota artist Mike Lynch (b. 1938) creates poetic imagery out of the least likely settings, such as grain elevators and industrial loading docks. The romance of these scenes is heightened by his use of nocturnal or early dawn light.
This painting is one of about 15 pieces given to Carleton by Mary Lamp, a fan of Lynch’s who collected his works and wanted to give them to an educational institution. They are not grand finished pieces, but rather smaller, more ephemeral works. Some of them are actually torn out of a sketchpad and still have the ring binder residue along the edge. Lynch’s virtuosity is shown here — he creates an illusion of three dimensions by using gray paper and then adding white for highlights and dark for shadows.