Maverick Point (Utah)
A viewpoint on Elk Mountain Road near Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah. Some painting names I use as codes. For example, Bryce as in Bryce Canyon with its coral-colored cliff has become my code for pink. Here too, is a painting with a palate that takes my mind to Utah.
– Chase Langford
In Maverick Point, Utah, Chase Langford transforms the rugged geology of southeastern Utah into an intricate abstract terrain of flowing contours, embedded forms, and unexpected color. Rather than depicting the landscape literally, the painting evokes the experience of reading it—from above, across distance, and through layers of geological time.
Maverick Point lies within the high country of San Juan County, a region defined by mesas, canyons, cliffs, and deeply eroded landforms. Langford translates this topography into broad, meandering bands that resemble contour lines, sedimentary strata, dry washes, and the sinuous edges of mesas. Enclosed shapes appear like isolated buttes or geological deposits viewed on a map, reinforcing the artist’s longstanding connection to cartography.
The palette distinguishes the work from Langford’s many coastal paintings. Warm reds, ochres, dusty pinks, and oranges suggest the mineral-rich earth of Utah, while pale greens, lavender, turquoise, and expanses of chalky white temper that desert intensity. Areas of scraped, mottled, and layered paint give the surface an appropriately weathered quality, as though erosion itself has participated in making the image.
