Does art outlast the notoriety of its creator?

The criminal case against acclaimed artist Nicholas Oberling has sent ripples across the local art world, his once-coveted paintings taken off display in venues and upcoming shows paused.

Oberling, established and well-liked in the art community, was accused of trying to electrocute his significant other while she took a shower at the couple’s Hungry Horse home on July 24. He allegedly hot-wired the soap dish to a cord and then plugged it into an electrical outlet, shocking his then partner.

Just two days before Oberling was at his studio, posing for photos for the Hungry Horse News while putting the finishing touches on a painting for a Plein air paint-out of the Flathead River for the Flathead Land Trust.

By that Monday, he was in jail on $50,000 bail, charged with criminal endangerment.

Oberling and his partner opened a studio together in Hungry Horse in 2016. Interviewing for a story on the new gallery, Oberling described her as his wife, though court documents don’t refer to her as that.

In a 2016 story in the Hungry Horse News, he said they met while he worked in the John L. Clarke Gallery in East Glacier. She was coming off a hike up Scenic Point and stopped into the gallery about five minutes before closing. She bought a couple of Oberling’s works and the two hit it off.

Because this is a domestic violence case, the Hungry Horse News opted against revealing her name in this story.

The couple bought the Dam Canyon Gift Shop next to the Baptist Church in May of 2016, remodeling it into an art gallery and studio.

By then, Oberling featured prominently in the Glacier Park art community. He’d been painting the park for about 18 years. In 2014 he completed a three-year undertaking where he packed into the wilderness regions of Glacier and painted backcountry scenes Plein air. Prior to the project, many of the scenes had never been painted before.

Oberling studied art formally at the Art Students League in New York City. His work has been shown throughout the U.S. and he served on the Hockaday Museum of Art board of directors in Kalispell for 11 years.

Oberling’s work is also part of the permanent collection at the museum. Prior to the criminal charge, his work was displayed in the museum, but in the intervening months the museum has decided to take it down, said Executive Director Alyssa Cordova.

Cordova said Oberling's art was removed in light of the situation and “sensitivity to his partner.” It’s a challenging subject, Cordova said.

“Unfortunately, these stories are nothing new to the art world,” she said.

In 1985, for example, famed sculptor Carl Andre was accused of pushing his wife, Ana Mendieta, out of their skyscraper window in New York City. Charged with her murder three years later, he was acquitted in a jury trial.

“Can you separate art from the artist?” Cordova asked.

She believes that, over time, one can.

“Good art can come from bad people,” Cordova said.

Ace Powell, another famous Hungry Horse artist, for example, had four wives (three ended in divorce, one died of natural causes).

The Hockaday had planned a solo exhibit of Oberling’s work this summer. That has been put on permanent hold, Cordova said.

Artist Tammy Phillips, who also has a gallery in Kalispell, Phillips Studio and Gallery, also planned an Oberling exhibit in 2023.

That, too, has been shelved.

“We’re kind of in a holding pattern,” Phillips said. “We’re going to wait and decide (after) sentencing.”

According to court documents, the plea agreement Oberling struck in November could see him get no additional jail time, as it calls for a suspended five-year sentence.

Oberling has sat in the Flathead County Detention Center since his arrest. His Hungry Horse gallery has closed and the art that once hung on the walls is gone.

As far as the future, perhaps only time will tell. Locally, Oberling’s artwork is bound to stand on its own. A huge mural he did for Freedom Bank in Columbia Falls stands above the teller booths.

President Don Bennett said the bank has no plans to take it down.

“It’s beautiful artwork,” Bennett said. “I think art will outlast the artist.”