Could a wind-energy art exhibit shape public opinion?
But nukes are nothing compared to one of Beesley’s true obsessions: wind turbines. He paints the emblems of wind power — a form of energy he does support — towering over grazing farm animals and casting long shadows over cultivated land. “My interest in wind turbines as an artist is the actual structures,” he says. “Seen abstractly, as sculptures, they are very beautiful.” And Beesley’s portrayals of them are popular, at least with some audiences: last week, a wind-industry executive purchased one of his oil paintings at a wind-energy art exhibit in Pittsburgh. Yes, that’s right, a wind-energy art exhibit. The show — unveiled at a meeting of the American Wind Energy Association and viewable online — is almost certainly the world’s first to have such a focus. By collecting paintings, drawings, posters, and postcards that depict windmills as sleek and simple even as they loom over their natural surroundings, organizer Andrew Perchlik hopes to dispel myths about the aesthetic effects
