Guffogg_data

Shane Guffogg
Artist’s Statement

Paintings. I make them so that makes me a painter, which encompasses many things. Painting is a physical
activity, which is really the act of smearing paint on a canvas. Simple, direct, tactile. At times I like to trick
myself into thinking it really is that simple. But every moment of my existence -- past, present and future --
feeds into the “smearing of paint.”
I saw my first Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci in the flesh when I was in my late teens. Their work, their
paint smearing, didn’t seem old to me because it resonated with a sense of a deeper purpose, a higher
meaning.
Why paint a self portrait like Rembrandt did? Why not? It forces one to look at and into one’s own soul. Isn’t
being an artist about seeing and then relating or communicating what has been seen? Seeing what’s in
front of us and maybe beyond and what was and possibly will be?
As an artist, my job is to reveal not what I think I know or even what I know I know, but what exist in the
space between, which is for lack of a better use of language, a moment of being. Is there such a thing? I
think so, I hope so. Descartes said it so eloquently, “I think therefore I am.”
I have had those moments - those ah-hah moments - when the universe makes sense, if just for a moment,
when it informs and transcends and propels and all things become one and all time is that moment. That is
what I felt standing in front of Rembrandt’s second to last self portrait at the London National Gallery. That is
what I felt standing in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milano. The paintings could have been
finished the year prior, or in 1000 years in to the future and I would have still had that moment when all is
one, that feeling that I am a part of something I cannot even begin to comprehend. I can only listen, look,
feel, and be in the moment. When I am in front of a canvas with brush in hand, I understand Einstein’s
theories and the concept of a space-time continuum makes perfect sense. So isn’t my job as an artist, isn’t
my purpose to swim in that moment with my brush as a paddle that pushes and pulls the paint like the sun
pulls the fabric of time and space to make sure the planets revolve around it, as our solar system revolves
around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy for the same reason?
I started off as a figurative painter because that was what I knew - the visualization of the physical world.
Some where, and I don’t remember exactly where or when, I saw beyond this world. I saw with my mind and
all my senses began to form pictures in my minds eye - or at least that is a phrase that I can best use to
describe it. It was like listening to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings and registering the deep melancholy
the minor chords summons, bringing moments of sadness from all of human history, pulling from the
memory within the molecules that make up my person, all aligned and releasing their data because the
sounds of that tune are calling them.
I use to paint people but I began to see past them, in what I can only assume Leonardo da Vinci was
experiencing when he painted, and is so apparent in his first portrait, “Ginevra de Benci.” The left side of her
face has been pulled slightly forward as if he wants us to see more than what this world can offer from our
fixed perspective, giving us a glimpse toward his future that came to full fruition with Picasso’s synthetic
cubism, which tied into Einstein’s theories of relativity, all making up a visual and conceptual tapestry of
time and space. Leonardo places one reality in front of another, both existed only in his mind before
manifesting onto a wooden panel. Where is that landscape from? Sure, we recognize elements of the
landscape in the form of trees, a pond, the sky, but was it a real place? It is now because he made it so. But it also serves as a prop, a backdrop for his sitter. There is something else happening in this picture, something that lets me in on his secret, his inner vision which is manifesting in the painting; he saw things few see - he saw through this world and into another as the space between them shimmered like a hallucinatory moment that exists between what we know and what we think we know. And when an artists sees that and is still able to breathe, let alone paint or compose or dance or sing, then the world bares witness to this elusive thing we call art. I make images of things that don’t really exist that is referred to as art. I don’t deny that label because I don’t have another word for it. Time and the idea of it are becoming less important to me. Maybe it is because daily life is becoming faster and the rate at which we receive information is happening so fast that we really are now living moment to moment with each moment superseding the last. But somewhere within that swirling chaos of information is stillness where, as T. S. Eliot wrote, "At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is." And that stillness is in Leonardo’s Ginevra de Benci, who for the past year or so I dance with her every day in my studio when I pick up my brushes and smear paint onto the canvas. Who could ask for a better partner? February 5, 2012 — Shane Guffogg
Shane Guffogg
Artist’s Statement
At The Still Point - Between Black and White
One of the main ideas that fueled the abstract expressionist movement was the flattening of space; the denial of the Renaissance window. These paintings, collectively titled At The Still Point, are not about the flattening of the pictorial picture plane but creating it. Having the luxury of time and distance to look back on abstract painting makes abstraction my subject matter just as a still life or person can be a subject. The movements of light or ribbons are documents of my own physicality as I move the brush across the canvas (which was another characteristic of the action painters). Each movement requires a counter movement to balance itself, and this happens over and over until there is a web of lines that actually are one continuous line. It is the dance between chaos and order. I have been looking at and inspired by William Turner’s “Seascapes” that date from 1835-46, Rothko’s last series of works on paper and Jasper John’s early “Alphabet” paintings for many years, and like all great art, there is no escaping their influence. To delve in to the neutral palette of grey is my visual conversation with these artists that is really about adding to the conversation. Turner’s use of light, with his swirling brush strokes of glazes throw the viewer into the center of the picture plane and then back out while Rothko’s late “Brown and Grey” works on paper separate light from darkness as John’s grays shimmer in a similar way as Turner’s atmospheres. They all play into how I see and inspire what I paint. The title for this series is from a section of a poem by T.S. Eliot titled “BUIRNT NORTON” (No. 1 of 'Four Quartets'). I began reading this poem a number of years ago and have returned to it over and over because I realized that this poem addressed my concerns about the role of art and more specifically the role of painting in the 21st century; painting’s continuous visual conversation with the past and the present and my ideas of creating movement out of stillness, while making the abstract real. In the second part of the first Quartet Eliot writes: At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is, But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards, Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance. The notion of Grey in the 3rd part of the first Quartet was also source of inspiration for the “Between Black and White” series: Here is a place of disaffection Time before and time after In a dim light: neither daylight Investing form with lucid stillness Turning shadow into transient beauty I see a constant exchange of ideas through words and paint, one that attempts to understand the moment where the abstract becomes real. For me this is not a means to an end but instead part of the continuing voices that reveal our presence in the past as well as the future. This is what I take into my studio when I stand if front of my canvases. December 7th, 2010 — Shane Guffogg
Shane Guffogg
B.A., California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California Internship with Gary Stephan, New York, New York "Symposium - Printmaking: The Collaborative Art" Panelist at LACMA Guest Lecturer SCAD “The Search for Truth in the Land of Make Believe, A Good Painting Cannot Lie” Savannah, Georgia Curator – Portraits, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA Accompanying catalogue written by Shane Guffogg, Preface by Christopher Monger Curator – Love at First Sight; the Collection of Molly Barnes Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA catalog published Marks on Paper, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA Outside the Inside, Outside, Art from the LAMP art community Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA catalog published Between Here and There, Liz’s Loft Los Angeles, CA New Mythologies, Pharmaka, Los Angeles CA. Guest on Molly Barnes radio show Art Talk Curator – “Realm of Realism” LA Mart, LA Platform, Los Angeles, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2014 " Lumen Lapsus" Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood, CA
2013 "The Annunciation of Ginevra de Benci" Leslie Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood, CA
2012
“1990 - 2012: A Retrospective" Pianta Villa di Donato, Naples, Italy Ginevra de Benci" Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago, IL “At the Still Point” Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood, CA 2010 New Paintings, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood, CA 2009 “Communion” Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood, CA Reviewed Artscene magazine 2008 “Paintings” Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood, CA Reviewed Artscene magazine 2008 “Avalon” One Sansome San Francisco, CA Jan Casey and associates in conjunction with Geras Tousignant 2008 “The Future as Past is Present- Paintings for 2001 to 2006” 425 Market St. San Francisco, CA Jan Casey and associates in conjunction with Geras Tousignant Gallery “Passionately Non-objective”, Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA In conjunction with the Riverside Museum “Painting with Light”, Studio Blue Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Between Heavens”, Barone Odom Gallery, When Each Was Both, Judy Saslow Gallery, Chicago, IL. New Paintings / Transamerica Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Stills / Corridor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA continued Stills / Corridor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Reviewed L.A. Weekly, Pick of the Week Paintings and works on Paper from 1992-1996 New Paintings / Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles CA Reviewed L.A. Times
Group Exhibitions
2014
“Drawings”, Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago IL "Scope Miami" Fu Xin Gallery, Miami, FL "Ink Miami" Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Miami, FL "The Magnificent Seven" Pianta Villa di Donato, Naples, Italy "Transitive" Fu Xin Gallery, Miami, FL "Incognito" Santa Monica Museum, Santa Monica, CA “Portraits of Joan Quin" John Wayne Airport, Orange County, CA Art San Diego, San Diego, CA. Leslie Sacks Fine Art “Inaugural Exhibition” Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago, IL Art Bologna, Bologna, Italy, Fu Xin Gallery 2010 “Elements of Nature” Selections from the Frederick Weisman Foundation Carnegie Art Museum 2009 “For Those of Us Still Standing” Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA 2008 “Abstraction and Photography” Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA. “Marks on Paper” Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2007 “Made in California- from the Weisman collection” Jewish University Los Angeles, CA “LA Icons”, Lisa Coscino Gallery, Pacific Grove, CA “Tres Desperados”, Pharmaka Gallery, Curated by Paul Ruscha “ Sister City Love Slam”, Englebrot, Berlin Germany “ Then and Now- Painters and Their Process”, Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “ Viva Vetro! Glass Alive! Venice and America”, 1950-2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, PA “NonObjectivity” Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA in conjunction with the Riverside Museum “Fin” Bedlam Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “How it Happens” Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Liquid Los Angeles: Currents of Contemporary Watercolor Painting" Pasadena Museum, Pasadena, CA Curated by Leslie Jones “Incognito” Santa Monica Museum Santa Monica, CA “Small Wonders” Pharmaka Gallery Los Angeles, CA “Taste” The Back Space/ GrossArt West Hollywood, CA “Full Moon; The collection of Paul Ruscha” Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Venice 2 Venice” Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Art @ Home” Hill Street Loft/ GrossArt Los Angeles, CA “Blue” Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Venice 2 Venice” V and A Gallery, Venice, Italy "Mostracollettiva.03 ossessioni ossessive". Barone Odom, Rome Italy Inside The Box/ Pharmaka, Bert Green Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA Outside the Box / Pharmaka-Art, Los Angeles, CA Reviewed by Peter Frank LA Weekly Pick of the Week Inaugurazione, Barone Odom Galleria D’Arte Contemporanea, Rome Italy Reality of Abstraction, Abstraction of Reality Shane Guffogg and John Scane Curated by Adam Gross / GrossArt Modus Operandi, Michael Folonis, AIA, Santa Monica, CA Curated by Donna Napper Pharmaka, Bedlam Downtown, Los Angeles, CA, reviewed Coagula “Incognito” Santa Monica Museum Santa Monica, CA Pharmaka, Bedlam Gallery Hillhurst, Los Angeles, CA Pharmaka, Corridor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Courtyard Eleven, Corridor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Hypertension Color, Thema Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, Curated by Chip Tom California 10 Contemporary/ Judy Saslow Gallery, Chicago, IL Curated by Chip Tom Merging Artist/ Spike Gallery NY, NY reviewed NYC Gallery Guide Colors/ Sandroni Rey Gallery, Venice, CA Curated by Paul Rusconi Featured artist on Artnet.com, Abstraction of the 20th Century Works On Paper / Skidmore Contemporary Art, Malibu, California BIG / Skidmore Contemporary Art, Malibu, California Art for Tennessee Williams / The Zoo District, Los Angeles, California Reviewed in LA Times Drawn from the Artist Collections / The Armand Hammer Museum Los Angeles, California catalogue available Reviewed on KCRW Art Talk, reviewed L.A Weekly, Pick of the Year Drawn from the Artist Collections / The Drawing Center New York Reviewed in N.Y. Times by Roberta Smith May 21st, 1999 catalog published Hamilton Press Prints / University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Fred Jones Jr. Museum Catalogue available Hamilton Press Prints / Pomona College, Pomona, CA One Apiece / The Corridor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Six for Ninety Six / Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA International Artists Works on Paper / Fahrid Chaib Contemporary Art, L.A. Artists / Fahrid Chaib Contemporary Art, Venice, CA Museum Print Show / Santa Monica Museum, Santa Monica, CA Evening of Masque / Newport Harbor Museum, Newport Beach, CA The Gramercy / AMO Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Senses Of Reality / Soma Gallery, San Diego, CA Serious Beauty II / Stuart Katz Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Curated by Irit Krieger Serious Beauty / Metropolitan Museum, Los Angeles, CA Curated by Irit Krieger Gallery Artist Group Show / The Works Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA What's Next! / Soma Gallery, San Diego, California Focus: The Integrity of Structure / The Works Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA Los Angeles Aids Project / Patricia Shea Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Gallery Artist Opening Show / Soma Gallery, San Diego, CA Abstraction for the Information Age The Works Gallery Costa Mesa, CA Curated by Irit Krieger New Circle: American and Soviet Paintings / Martin Luther King Center, Washington, D.C. Catalogue publsihed Painters and Photographers / Wade Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Alumni Exhibition / California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
Selected Public Collections
Armand Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Duke University Museum of Modern Art, NC
Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA
Jumex Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
NBC Studios /SNL New York, NY
St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, NY
Van Pelt - Deitrich Library, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Education, Selected Curatorial, Lectures and Panels
1985
B.F.A. California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA Internship with Gary Stephan, New York, NY 1989-96 Studio assistant to Ed Ruscha and Joe Goode 1999 Symposium Panelist, Printmaking: The Collaborative Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA 2004 Guest Lecturer, SCAD, The Search for Truth in the Land of Make Believe: A Good Painting Cannot Lie, Curator, Portraits, Pharmaka Art, Los Angeles, CA Catalogue essay by Shane Guffogg, Preface by Christopher Monger

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