Chris Gwaltney: Time Is . . . at Seager Gray Gallery

T I M E

C H R I S

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G W A L T N E Y 1

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Time is . . . an exhibition of paintings

by Chris Gwaltney

“Time is . . . too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love – time is eternity”.

Henry van Dyke

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Time is . . .

An exhibition of paintings by Chris Gwaltney Grand Opening of Seager Gray Gallery, 108 Throckmorton.

Exhibition Dates: September 2 - September 30, 2014 Reception for the Artist: Saturday, September 6, 6 to 8 pm Catalog essay by Bolton Colburn, former Director: Laguna Art Museum Photo Credit: Chris Bliss

Direct inquiries to: Seager Gray Gallery 108 Throckmorton Ave. Mill Valley, CA 94941 415.384.8288 art@seagergray.com

All Rights Reserved

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Scatter oil on canvas 44 x 50�

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Up, More Up oil on canvas 50 x 44�

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Chris Gwaltney World As if literally stepping off into abstraction, a figure in Chris Gwaltney’s painting Up, More Up performs a Kafkaesque metamorphosis as it leaps from a diving board, one leg flattening into a mere black shape, an apt visual metaphor for the transition from one state to another, of the thin line that separates being and not being.

The deaths of his father and father-in-law, with whom he was very close and his son leaving the nest set the stage for some serious reflections on the cycle of life and his new role as the family patriarch. As a result, Gwaltney has spent the last three years challenging conventions he has developed in his painting practice over several decades.

He tried eliminating the figure completely, emphasizing a horizontal orientation over a vertical one, playing with the principles of abstraction. In his new body of work, he has returned to the figure with a fresh outlook gained during three years of experimentation.

Gwaltney learned the mechanics of painting by closely studying the work of the San Francisco Bay Area figurative painters, a movement in the 1950s that included Richard Diebenkorn, David Park and Nathan Oliveira, who was Gwaltney’s principal inspiration.

In Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980, Thomas Albright points out that Oliveira “belonged to a classical strain of agonized expressionism that seemed to reflect an existential view of man—battered, tragic, but enduring.”

Rather than reflecting the pathos of existentialism, however, Gwaltney’s figures act more as a springboard for his reflections about life. Even though the artist will tell you he is not very social, his paintings can be seen as vestiges of conversations he is having on canvas. Once he makes a mark with his brush, the conversation begins, reflecting whatever is on his mind.

Gwaltney’s natural inclination when he approaches a fresh canvas is to make a vertical mark. That divides the canvas into two sides—a visual format conducive to conversation.

Conversely, if you divide the canvas horizontally you end up with a top and a bottom, with the lower half potentially in a subordinate position. Pictorially, a horizontal line on a blank canvas suggests a horizon while a vertical line suggests a figure.

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Tied to Memory oil on canvas 43 x 38�

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Like a pianist who knows their repertoire so well they let their fingers do the playing, Gwaltney’s mark making is so casually done that it appears arbitrary. However, it is anything but inconsequential and is filled with meaning. In Tied to Memory, for example, the figure bisecting the horizon line seems to be moving off away from the viewer into the landscape. Movement is conveyed in two ways: by the red outline suggesting the bottom of a foot as it lifts off in motion, and the gap between the arm and torso suggesting a figure in mid-stride. The yawning gap between the figure’s thighs also contributes to this visual metaphor for a past memory that may be fading.

In Place to Stand, Gwaltney makes a Jean-Michel Basquiat-like gesture by lining out the words “looking back,” suggesting looking for a position or perspective in order to consider the past or, perhaps, a place to stand in this world. Seeking such a perspective may come after one has lived long enough to see a shift in generations and to understand that the ground is always shifting and changing.

Sometimes the artist’s figures, like those in the painting Scatter, struggle to gain physicality and are threatened with obscurity, surrounded by swirling cloud-like shapes, as if the figures are willing themselves into existence, or are in some sort of dance with the abstraction of paint, struggling for sentience and the right to exist on the canvas.

In Daily Mindset and Water Slows Us Down, the artist releases the figures from this struggle, leaving them to exist in stasis with their surroundings. Both are largely meditative and monochromatic paintings (Daily Mindset is Bazooka bubble gum pink and Water Slows Us Down milky blue) in which figures slowly float through water, making ripples and casting shadows. Encased in a haze-like fog, they are involved in a mystical transition, suspended in a moment when interaction with the elements causes things to slow, distance to be obscured, direction to be called into question. In this suspension of physical reference, the figures seemingly find peace.

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The Dress oil on canvas 80 x 60�

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The Dress plays with the conventions and ideas of two other influential Bay Area artist/ teachers--Clyfford Still and Hans Hofmann. A layer of color is torn off to reveal another color underneath (as in the work of Still), while creating an illusion of space, depth, and movement by using color and shape alone (as in the work of Hofmann). The figure in The Dress is ambiguously balanced in space and could either be in the foreground or background. The artist pushes the issue of spatial ambiguity further by mixing the oranges and greens in the dress itself (warm colors come forward; cool colors recede), seemingly reflecting on an individual torn between two worlds.

Paintings by the artists that are more directly about relationships--those that include more than one figure like Purple Heart, Summer Solstice, Pulse Time, and Shout Because Whispers Fail-- tend to be narrative driven. One of the most literal is Purple Heart, a painting about the recent passing of Gwaltney’s father-in-law, which includes the date he died--July 19, 2014. The father’s love for his daughter is conveyed by a string of hearts leading from him to her. The artist manages to elevate the subject matter above a clichÊ by painting the excessively sentimental imagery lushly and directly.

Like any great artist, Gwaltney takes what inspires him and incorporates it into his vocabulary. He has absorbed the lessons of Bay Area figuration, and by osmosis the lessons of Still and Hofmann, and has added his own twists, as well as a few from more contemporary artists like Basquiat. Gwaltney is at the point where he is fully in command of his medium, has refined his touch, and is deceptively simple in his meaning. He is an artist who likes to push himself--to build on what he has done, discard it, and rebuild again--continually evolving, taking from his surroundings and from his life, and recasting it into something worthy of our attention.

Bolton Colburn Former Director: Laguna Art Museum and Surfing Heritage & Culture Center

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Purple Heart oil on canvas 60 x 80�

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Summer Solstice oil on canvas 80 x 60�

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Shout, Because Whispers Fail oil on canvas 65 x 57�

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Profile Time #2 oil on canvas 57 x 65�

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Daily Mind Set oil on canvas 34 x 30�

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No Clock Counting oil on canvas 17 x 24�

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Water Slows it Down oil on canvas 14 x 17”

Reliable Time (left) oil on canvas 50 x 44”

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CHRIS GWALTNEY EDUCATION California Community Colleges, Instructor Credential, 1987 California State University, Fullerton, M.F.A., 1986 California State University, Fullerton, B.A., 1984 SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, “Time Is . . .”

2013 Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, “Postcards”.

2012 Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2011 Tria Gallery, New York, NY 2011 Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT 2010 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA “Shadow and Absence” 2009 Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2008 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2007 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2006 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2005 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2004 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2003 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2002 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2001 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2000 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 20

1999 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 1998 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 1997 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 1996 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA Renaissance Cafe, Laguna Beach, California 1995 “More New Work”, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA “Contemporary Figure”, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA “Collaboration”, Artist-in-Residence, UC, Irvine 1994 “New Work”, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California 1993 “Recent Paintings”, Five Feet Restaurant, Laguna Beach, CA “New Paintings”, Renaissance Cafe, Laguna Beach, California 1992 “Essential Visions”, Bistango Gallery, Irvine, California 1991 “Source Material, New Work”, Diane Nelson, Laguna Beach “Recent Paintings”, Renaissance Cafe, Laguna Beach, California 1990 “Twelve Recent Paintings”, Diane Nelson, Laguna Beach, CA 1989 “Recent Paintings”, Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA “Figure Eight” Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California 1988 S.I.T.E. Gallery, Los Angeles, California Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California “More Questions, Fewer Answers”, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA Gallery of Art, Rancho Santa Fe, California 1987 Irvine Valley College 1986 Diane Sassone Gallery, Laguna Beach, California California State University, Fullerton West Gallery SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2013 Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2012 Aqua Art Miami, 2012, Seager Gray Gallery

2012 Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA ArtMRKT International Art Fair, SF, Seager Gray Gallery 2012 Figurative Paintings, Seager/Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2009 Figurative, Peter Blake/ LA Louvre, Laguna Beach, CA 2007 Figurative Show, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2005 Peter Blake Group Show, Peter Blake Gallery, CA 2003 Summer Show, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

1987 Amos Eno Gallery, Soho District, New York, NY Spectrum Gallery, San Diego, CA Diane Sassone Gallery, Gallery Artists, CA Faculty Show, Ettinger Gallery, Art Institute of Southern California 1986 Orlando Gallery, Los Angeles, California MFA Exchange Show, Claremont College, CA 1984 “All California ‘84”, Laguna Beach Art Museum, CA EXHIBITION REVIEWS, ARTICLES

1998 “Painters”, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Carasso, Roberta, “Art Waves, Chris Gwaltney at New Peter Blake Gallery” (October 10, 2008) Orange County Register.com

1997 “Gallery Artists”, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Walsh, Daniella, “The Art Radar” Riviera Magazine (October 2008) pgs. 50-51

1996 “Expressive Figure, Three Painters”, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach 1995 “Recent Figure Paintings”, Peter Blake, Laguna Beach, CA 1995 “California Figurative”, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Walsh, Daniella, “The Art Attack” Riviera Magazine (March 2008) pgs. 84-85 “Step into Color” Riviera Magazine (March 2007) pgs. 180-181 Thompson, Sandy, “Chris Gwaltney at Robert Green Fine Arts” Art week (July/ August 2001 Volume 32 Issue 7/8) Cover, page 20 Thomas, Linda, “A Circle of Orange” pg. 150-151 Carrasso,Roberta, “...dazzling colors mark Gwaltney exhibit at Blake Gallery,”

1994 “International Art”, Los Angeles, CA “California Painters”, Concordia University, Irvine, California “Best of Laguna”, Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA “Irvine Valley College Faculty”, Irvine, California

Orange County Register, Laguna News-Post, (November 4, 1999) pg. 24 Walsh, Daniella, “ Chris Gwaltney-Recent Paintings” Orange County Register, Page 3 (Sunday, October 4, 1998) Encore

1993 “Currents”, Time /Space Gallery, Laguna Beach, California “Faculty Exhibit”, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, California

Mendenhall, Laurie, “Artistry in Teaching Art” Daily Pilot, Weekend (January 27, 1994) Cover

1992 “Essential Visions”, Bistango, Irvine, CA 1991 “Faculty Exhibit”, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA Diane Nelson Gallery, Gallery’ Artists Group Show

Delmas, Cinde, “Rich month for artwork in Marin”, Marin Independent Journal (February 1995)

Bryant, Kathy, “The Art of Living” Los Angeles Times, Design (July 10, 1993) Cover Carrasso, Roberta, “Currents”, Time/Space Gallery Catalog (December 12,1992) Bell, Joseph, “The Beginning Buyer’s Guide to Art” Los Angeles Times (May 1990

1990 “Contemporary 4”, Bistango , Irvine, CA?

Bryant, Kathy, “A Passion For Art” Orange County Magazine (September 1990) pg. 76

1988 “Furniture as the Artist’s Subject”, Century Gallery Sylmar, California

Harbrecht, Gene, “Gwaltney isn’t sitting still with his chair theme,” Orange County Register,(April 6,1990) pg.32

1989 “Figure 8”, Diane Nelson Gallery S.I.T.E. Gallery, Culver City. CA Faculty Exhibit, Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA

Schlosberg, Suzanne, “Art That Takes a Stand, and a Seat” Los Angeles Times, Calendar, (January 26, 1990) pg. F23a

1988 Faculty Exhibit, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA Faculty Exhibit, California State University, Long Beach, CA

Valdespino, Ann, “Paintings, Photos Go From Restful to Arresting,” Orange County Register, (March 25,1988) pg. 48

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