* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Cobi Moules earned a BFA from San Jose State University and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Driven by the desire for adventure and discovery, Cobi Moules set out across America not only to explore the country’s natural beauty and diversity, but also to reflect upon his position within it. Moules’ study of the grand American landscape quickly conjures up images and iconography from a plethora of historical landscape paintings, most notably mid-19th century American landscape paintings.
Loosely utilizing the Hudson River School as a visual point of departure, Moules metaphorically utilizes the landscape as a stand-in for his own Christian upbringing. His compositions contain a multitude of self-portraits and narratives, each coexisting to create a parallel and/or alternate plane that invokes a sense of excitement, self-worth and play. Through the multiplication and overwhelming presence of his ‘self’ within the paintings, Moules takes precedence over the landscape, fully integrating himself into an art historical lexicon that typically exemplifies the insignificance of the individual and the manifestation of God.
