Montana artist Anthony Wood began experimenting with oil paints as an artistic medium in 2016. His love for painting and an appreciation for a diverse representation of western landscapes grew as he studied Western American history. He draws inspiration from artists like Clyde Aspevig, Scott Christenson, Tucker Smith, and Dan Metz. His academic and artistic focus on the 19th- and early 20th-century West also introduced him to painters such as Rungius, Bierstadt, Moran, and, of course, Charlie Russell.

Anthony began plain air painting in 2020, after moving back to Montana following treatment for Hodgkin Lymphoma during 2018 and 2019. Following a successful stem cell transplant, chemo and immunotherapy, and radiation, he was cancer free by the summer of 2019. Anthony sees a deep connection between his work as an artist and as a western historian. He finds that painting can be a means of contemplative recollection. His work tries to notice what it is that captivates us about our surroundings. In search of this, his oil landscapes explore the tensions and harmonies between subjects and space.

Anthony’s subjects are not just points of interest to look at, but a summons to imagine a new story or revisit an old memory. In his work, depth is not merely an aspect of a scene to convey distance, but an invitation for the viewer to traverse the miles in their mind.