Uncanny Landscapes in Pen and Ink Span Wooden Panels by John Buck

From the Three Patriarchs of Zion Canyon to the swamps of Louisiana to the immense cascade of Niagara Falls, John Buck’s landscapes evoke the juxtapositions and proportions of dreams. His solo exhibition, Mont Blanc on Wood at Zolla / Lieberman Gallery, draws us to the fuzzy boundary between the familiar and the uncanny.

The Bozeman-based artist is known for his eccentric, often life-size wooden sculptures that draw on folklore, personal memory, and daily observations. Figures are sometimes hybridized with other objects, and idiosyncratic drawings on wood panel reveal expansive landscapes populated by anthropomorphized plants and dramatic rock pinnacles.

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface of a rocky desert area with a small lake in the middle, in the center of which a lighthouse sits — “Lighthouse” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 27 x 36 ½ inches

The works in Mont Blanc on Wood span a range of places and references, emphasizing landscapes where things feel perhaps a little “off.” The desert stares back in “Cactus Grove (No. 13),” and in “Lighthouse (No. 18),” a light station in the middle of a desert lake shines mostly onto arid, rocky landforms.

“Buck reflects on social and political realities, environmental concerns, and the eccentricities of human behavior, all while maintaining a sense of humor and a deep engagement with craft,” the gallery says. “His art balances storytelling with formal clarity, inviting viewers into a world where the familiar becomes speculative and symbolic.”

Mont Blanc on Wood continues through August 8 in Chicago.

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface featuring various kinds of cartoonish cacti with eyes — “Cactus Grove” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 36 ½ x 27 inches

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface featuring the three "patriarchs" in Zion Canyon, Utah — “Three Patriarchs, Utah” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 26 ½ x 31 ½ inches

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface of factories foregrounded by turbulent waters — “The Never Sweat Mine” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 21 ¼ x 26 ½ inches

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface featuring a swamp setting with trees and stumps — “Atchafalaya” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 26 ½ x 32 inches

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface featuring waterfalls amid mountains — “7 Waterfalls (No14),” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 37 x 27 inches

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface featuring weathered and curved aspen trees — “Aspens” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 26 ½ x 37 ½ inches

a pen-and-ink drawing on a wooden surface featuring rock pinnacles in the middle of a sea with clouds that swirl in abstract, linear spiral shapes — “Sea Mount” (2024), pen and ink on wood, 52 x 37 ½ inches

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