(Conversation between , Victoria Chapman and Los Angeles based artist, Shane Guffogg continues)
VC: Have you ever thought about who created the first abstract painting and why? To me, abstract painting represents something cerebral. The colors often portray a significant role, which then guide our emotions to think or feel a certain way. In some cases, there is an interweaving of borders that are made of divisions of colors or shades of non-color. It can be a type of landscape waiting to be discovered or a junction willing to begin a new path. I often wonder, how does this come about? I asked Shane and he answered me by explaining,
Shane Guffogg: “Wassily Kandinsky was known to be the first abstract painter, If you really think about what abstraction is and break down the word abstraction, it means, something pulled or drawn away. That is exactly what J.M.W. Turner (1775- 1851), did; he abstracted moments in time.”
February was a busy month for Los Angeles – there were many art fairs that took place among the forever sprawling and busy city. I went to most of these fairs hoping I might see something new, something that would give me insight about the world and remind me why being alive is so important. Isn’t art suppose to improve on what already exists? Or as Picasso was once quoted: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”.
This is a taste of the profound poem by T.S Eliot, “Four Quartets,” which consist of four meditations, with the common thread of man’s relationship with time, the universe, and the divine. Eliot’s desire is for the reader to focus on the present moment, and the order of the universe. The four quartets are meant to reflect the four classical elements, or maybe the four seasons. Section I (Burnt Norton) – air, Section II (East Coker) – earth, Section III (Dry Salvages) – water, and Section IV (Little Gidding) – fire.
I open this with a copy of a letter recently sent to Shane. As his studio manager, I have a unique position to witness what happens within the walls of his creative spaces. In writing these newsletters, it is always my goal to share the work with as many people as possible. And as a “fly on the wall”, I believe, “Letter from Ukraine” is symbolic of the times we live in. It is a testimony to us all, that it does not matter where we live or what language we speak. Great art has the ability to bring us together and share comparative thought.
I am beginning this month with the mention of Circle of Truth, a group exhibition curated by Laura Hipke and Shane Guffogg, which opened to the public on October 18th at the New Museum Los Gatos. From the inception to the opening, the exhibition took Guffogg and Hipke 9 years to complete. They contacted specific artists to create work based on the essence of truth and its consequential visual language.
A question I have been asking myself, as of late, is, What is spirituality? And how does an artist define this through his/her work? My questions often lead me to do research, in hopes of finding an answer. My latest questioning landed me in the Age of Enlightenment, but I needed to learn what came before, and what was the impetus? This took me back hundreds of years, to an era that was the opposite of illumination. In the dark ages of medieval art, reading was forbidden by the churches.
Some artists spend countless hours – even lifetimes – drawing and painting from life, documenting their existence through physical forms and realistic subjects. Others create imaginary worlds based on abstract themes, all the while interpreting life in the way that they see it and feel it. Shane Guffogg is an artist that encompasses both factions, but also (from this writer’s perspective) creates an agent for the soul, taking the viewer on a journey to a spiritual realm.
