Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

111 Minna Gallery to Host Guy Colwell Retrospective

The career of painter-cartoonist Guy Colwell is explored in an upcoming retrospective at 111 Minna Gallery. "Walking, Talking, Stalking" tracks the artist’s work from the 1990s to present. Colwell says that the pieces “should each be read as an essay about the state of life from the perspective of one big primate at this moment in time.”


The career of painter-cartoonist Guy Colwell is explored in an upcoming retrospective at 111 Minna Gallery. “Walking, Talking, Stalking” tracks the artist’s work from the 1990s to present. Colwell says that the pieces “should each be read as an essay about the state of life from the perspective of one big primate at this moment in time.”

The artist emerged as an prominent figure in underground comics in the 1970s—and continued to contribute to both this field and elsewhere as a painter. His work, dubbed “figurative social surrealistic” in nature, often take on social and political issues and the broader Western experience. In 2004, Cowell painting “The Abuse” caused a stir in depicting abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. The owner of the San Francisco gallery that showed the piece was threatened and assaulted for the showing the piece, garnering international coverage.

On the work in this show: “This artwork is outward looking,” the artist says, in a statement. “Confronting the world as it is and engaging in public discourse about it, are more important than exposing the inner self or producing beautiful spots of color to decorate walls. It is artwork that looks at the human world as we find it now in the early 21st century. It is artwork that looks at the natural world as it is, threatened and threatening. And, at its crucial heart, this artwork is an exploration of the relationship, or more precisely, the alienation that exists between these two worlds.”

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Jaime Brett Treadwell's paintings gleam like the finish of a newly tricked-out low rider. The candy-colored works on panel feature prismatic geodes levitating above otherworldly mountain ranges and lagoons. Treadwell's new body of work departs from his formerly pop culture-heavy imagery. Bikini-clad characters once inhabited his intergalactic oases like an MTV Spring Break set in outer space. But for his upcoming show "Trick Magic," opening at Mirus Gallery in San Francisco on January 17, Treadwell significantly pared down his style and opted to focus on the glossy, alluring geometric forms at his work's foundation.
Those who follow in the footsteps of the Old Masters would gasp at Seth Alverson's raw depictions of the human body. From the Renaissance's advancements in rendering the idealized anatomy to today's Photoshopped magazine covers, Western culture has an ongoing obsession with depicting the nude figure in ways that few of us can actually live up to. Alverson throws these conventions out the window with his oil paintings.
Colin Prahl’s intricate landscapes move between circuitry-like forms and psychedelia, each acrylic painting a wild display of illusion and vibrancy. From afar, the structures and contours contained within his works resemble urban environments.
Jonathan Chapline's paintings emulate early computer graphics, while drawing upon the history of art in his work. The artist uses depth and shadows to add further mystique and drama to his scenes, moving between still-life and figurative narratives.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List