In this episode, we delve into an engaging art discussion recorded at the opening reception of "Lines and Dots - Thoughts Before Language" exhibition held on January 27th, 2024, in the Blue Room at El Nido, Los Angeles. Shane Guffogg and I engage in a heartfelt dialogue, meticulously exploring a curated selection of paintings spanning from 1991 to 2018. The exhibition serves as a comprehensive survey of his career.

Guffogg provides intricate insights into approximately half of the showcased works, responding thoughtfully to my inquiries regarding their genesis and contemporary significance. The conversation unveils the profound complexity of the artist's career and his artistic creations. Guffogg shares enlightening narratives about the evolution of his early works, which precede the iconic ribbon influences. He characterizes them as reflections predating language, with lines and dots serving as symbolic references. Throughout the discussion, Guffogg adeptly weaves through each artwork, offering captivating anecdotes.

Among the notable pieces discussed is one from Guffogg's pattern series, inspired by the drought and aptly titled "Aquas Prayer." The painting elicits a profound experience when viewed, adding another layer of depth to the exhibition's narrative.

Check out the exhibition page here: https://www.vcprojects.art/lines-dots-thoughts-before-language

Shane Guffogg is an American artist, that looks through the lens of humanity at civilizations, both past and present, and views time as threads that connect all people. Guffogg's visual language is informed by the spiritualism of abstraction and the realism of the old masters. Usually, these two ideas are usually seen as separate but for Guffogg, they fuse into transcendent works that become testaments to thoughts that inform us of who we are in the 21st century.  

Visit the artist's website here: https://www.shaneguffogg.com

During this episode, we speak to Ipshita Maitra, a lens-based artist from India who works across various forms of mixed media and collage.

We discuss Ipshita's "At Home, In Exile" series, captured in black and white photography. We also hear Ipshita's views on the artist's relationship with their practice, reaching the spiritual through the physical, being a vessel, influences, and philosophies, and further, pushing the medium - experimentation and play.

At Home, In Exile - Ipshita states:

"A deep silence penetrates this body of work that marks the artist's time in a self-willed form of exile. The everyday, marked by a transcendental quality transforms into a labyrinth, where one is drawn into the inner intimacy of memory, of a time lived, forgotten and evoked (again)

Creation assumes a multidimensionality, planes between real and imagined, manifest and un manifest collapse

A terrain of wilderness that exists within is unleashed It is ritualized by the aspect of coming 'home' Standing on known unknown ground

Within the wanderings buried archetypes explode ...

The unconscious recesses of the psyche, play out as narratives of mystery and magic. Time assumes a suspension devoid of the linearity of movement, sometimes a vibration-less state, sometimes fragile, and dear clutching at fragments of memory. In the abyss of isolation, the self becomes the observer and the observed.

Layers of the collective unconscious and the ego/personal unconscious come together in an almost Jungian synchronicity where one wonders within a repository of symbols trying to draw meaning from absurdity. Trying to draw form from ether, trying to erase, trying to reconstruct. The work encapsulates the passage from alienation to reconnaissance, the flowering of the consciousness through a certain remembrance / smaran of repetitive movement."

This is an enlightening talk. When I ask Ipshita about what she might share with her younger self or to those in the thick of creativity, she responded: "It's important to follow your gut or your intuition. And to take that journey into yourself; because that is where all the magic begins. Also, I would say, silence is a discipline -- but not too much. And to younger artists - some amount of silient times for your self -where you provide space to not think, or be overwhelmed or even bogged down. The more one dwells in that space the more things come to you. Finally, learn to be the vessel and the receiver, and to be present in the moment."

Listen in and hear Ipshita's story, she has so much to share.

In this episode, artist Shane Guffogg discusses his recent solo exhibition at the Bovolo Museum in Venice, Italy, inspired by T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets." The exhibition, featuring twenty-one paintings spread across two rooms, explores themes of reaching into silence, conquering time, and the coexistence of flesh and fleshless. Guffogg highlights the significance of the largest work and its connection to Tintoretto's "Paradiso," which is also displayed in the museum.

In the first room, titled "Reach in the Silence," Guffogg aims to immerse the viewer in a spiritual experience, emphasizing his relationship with time and space. He describes his work as an imprint, a layered evidence of his existence.

The second room, showcasing "Neither Flesh nor Fleshless" paintings, delves into Eliot's exploration of dual ideas, a theme Guffogg believes embodies the essence of art. He contrasts art as an idea against its typical role as an illustration of ideas.

Guffogg's paintings are noted for their musical quality, evoking Gregorian Chant and prompting discussion of the artwork's spiritual and religious dimensions. The conversation delves into Guffogg's intuitive and layered creative process, revealing mysteries within his art.

Overall, the episode explores the profound connections between Guffogg's art, Eliot's poetry, and the rich tapestry of spirituality, inviting listeners to contemplate the intricate layers of meaning embedded in the artist's work.

About Shane Guffogg

“My work looks through the lens of humanity at civilizations, both past and present, and views time as threads that connect all people. My visual language is informed by the spiritualism of abstraction and the realism of the old masters. These two ideas are usually seen as separate but for me, they fuse to transcend, creating moments that become testaments to thoughts that inform us of who we are in the 21st century.”  - Shane Guffogg 

Biography 

Shane Guffogg was born in Los Angeles, California and raised on an exotic bird farm in the San Joaquin Valley. His interest in painting began at an early age and by his late teens, he traveled to Europe to see the works of Leonardo d Vinci, Rembrandt and Caravaggio in person, absorbing their techniques, and recognizing them not only as great artists, but alchemists. Upon his return from Europe, painting became his full-time obsession as he appropriated styles of artists from the past 500 years to learn and understand not only their techniques, but their reasons for translating their world through art. Guffogg received his B.F.A. from Cal Arts in 1986, and during his studies he interned in New York City. In 1989, Guffogg went to the Soviet Union on an international peace walk, which became the catalyst for the collapse of the Berlin wall. 

Guffogg relocated to Los Angeles, where he lived in Venice Beach and worked as a Studio Assistant to Ed Ruscha from 1989 until 1995. During his time in Venice Beach, he was immersed in the visual and verbal history of the LA Cool School. His work began to fuse the light and space movement of southern California with the techniques of Europe’s Old Masters, while also exploring acting for two years with the acclaimed acting teacher, Sandra Seacat. Sandra’s theories of the interior world of the subconscious and how it manifests in the conscious world became a third element that was added to his language of painting. 

The human form gave way to sweeping brushstrokes that are an extension of the artist’s physicality, but also serve as a visual bridge between the subconscious and consciousness. His work began to fuse the iconography of Ancient, Classical, Renaissance, Modern and Contemporary cultures, and the relationships among the various times and peoples. 

The resulting works contain their own language of sign and symbol through patterning and visual depth. They are the embodiment of human emotions while being informed by the unseen worlds of Quantum Physics. Guffogg is a multi-media disciplinarian, working in oil, watercolor, gouache, and pastel on paper, sculpture in marble and glass. His interest in the world of science has also led him to begin working with Augmented Reality and AI, where 

the audience can see his imagery not only in our 3-dimensional world, but beyond in what Guffogg refers to as the portal into 4th dimension, otherwise known as a Smart phone. A final element is sound, which plays an important role in Guffogg’s studio practice. Guffogg has what is known as synesthesia – he hears color. Guffogg is currently working with a pianist in Los Angeles to create a visual alphabet of musical chords that correspond to the colors he uses in his paintings. This collaboration will result in a musical score created by the painting. 

About the artwork: 

Guffogg primarily works in the time-honored tradition of oil painting, using the visual language of the past to create a new idiom of a personal calligraphy. The sizes and scope of Guffogg’s paintings range from intimate to monumental in size and scope. His oils typically have up to 100 layers of translucent colors that have been mixed with a glazing medium, creating the visual effect of the works being illuminated from within. 

Guffogg's language of light and color in the oil paintings have also manifested into glass with the shapes originated from the negative spaces within his paintings, creating a visual duality of male and female, organic and architectural shapes. The glass sculptures are created in Murano, tying his sculptural ideas to an ancient history of glass making. These shadows have also taken shape in Carrara marble.

COLLECTIONS: Guffogg’s work is in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, Fundación/Colección Jumex, Mexico City, The Imperial Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia, The Gallery of the Museum Center, Baku, Azerbaijan, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles and other public collections. 

This is an informal talk during “cocktail hour” as Shane Guffogg, and I share a chat about Shane’s recollections of going in and out of Sam Francis’s studio, in Venice, California, during the late 80s into the early 90s. Guffogg was in his late 20s and a studio assistant to Joe Goode, and Ed Ruscha. Sam’s studio was next door to Goode, and Guffogg would often be called into his studio to help with moving or stretching paintings. The impression of the time in Sam’s studio was an incredible gift, “It made such an impression that being an artist was possible …” “Seeing Sam’s space gave me the freedom to imagine.” It’s a fun conversation, imagining Guffogg’s experience, and the way he tells his stories is very descriptive. From observing daily procedures, collectors, and Sam’s visits to the studio – all the preparation needed to receive Sam, I think it is safe to say, Guffogg shares the respect and admiration of the great artist known for his fluid abstract paintings. 

“There was a sense that he [Sam] was completely unafraid – nothing was going to stop him, no person or thing. That appealed to me.” “Sam was instrumental in starting MOCA, and he started Crossroads, that school for the arts. He was using his success to influence the community, moving it more towards arts and education. That was a great thing to do. He aided the community here in Los Angeles.” “The couple of times I saw Sam, he was a very humble guy. These great blue eyes, full of fire and blue with an incredible presence and white hair.” “I remember shaking his hand and saying, wow, this is the guy.” “The thing about Sam’s paintings is you can see it’s all about spontaneous combustion.” “He was about being present and in the moment, that’s it – he was waiting for moments to appear in front of him, he is waiting for these beautiful accidental moments where he pushes the paint around that he doesn’t expect, and then, he is going to react to that. That is where his art lies, in that interaction between chaos and order.”

Guffogg’s stories are endless; he also mentions being face to face with Sam’s art collection in the studio and what that felt like, “This guy is out there collecting art or trading with other artists.” “I was always taking mental notes; you learn from these great artists …I  learned to trust my instincts. “Sam had an empire.” This is a tender and precious talk about Guffogg’s recollection of Sam's studio in Venice, CA.  It’s a fun talk!

Shane Guffogg is an American artist who looks through the lens of humanity at past and present civilizations and views time as threads that connect all people. His work is a visual language informed by the spiritualism of abstraction and the realism of the old masters. These two ideas are usually seen as separate, but Guffogg fuses them seamlessly into works that transcend and become testaments to thoughts that inform us of who we are in the 21st century.

To learn more about Shane Guffogg, visit, www.shaneguffogg.com

In this episode we sit down with Shane Guffogg in Hollywood to discuss the two films that have been made about his ranch by Eric Minh Swenson.

The first film was made two years ago and the second film a few weeks ago. Both share the artists progress and state of mind at his central California ranch and art studio. We talk about how it all began and where he is today. From a former exotic bird farm (his families business) to planting 350 grapevines, 30 olive trees, various fruit trees, vegetable and herb garden and more. This is an insightful conversation about getting an idea, ruminating on it and letting it organically move forward. I ask Guffogg how he goes about his day, how his life differs from his Hollywood studio to his ranch studio and some of the thoughts he carries with him day after day. The artist reminds us to listen to our gut feeling and go with the flow.

Shane Guffogg is an American artist who looks through the lens of humanity at civilizations, both past and present, and views time as threads that connect all people. His work is a visual language that is informed by the spiritualism of abstraction and the realism of the old masters. These two ideas are usually seen as separate but Guffogg fuses them seamlessly into works that transcend and become testaments to thoughts that inform us of who we are in the 21st century.

To learn more about Shane Guffogg visit, www.shaneguffogg.com

In this episode, we speak to Stevie Kincheloe, co-founder of The Living Artist, about their upcoming creative Workshop Series on Living in Alignment with Your Creative Life-Cycle™, where artists learn to navigate their creative fears and find their inner truth.

I asked Stevie about the particulars for the upcoming series slated to start June 6, 2023. She genuinely answers all of my questions very passionately. This series comes from the heart. Join us on Tuesday, May 30th, for the introductory meet-up at 6:30 pm located at El Nido,1028 N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, 90029

About The Living Artist:

A holistic and cyclical concept, threading together creativity, spirituality, psychology, and community, The Living Artist offers an intimate setting for a communal and transformative experience for the creator that desires to go deeper in their practice. 

Created by artists, for artists- or anyone desiring a deeper connection to their innate creativity. All creatives have grappled with stagnation brought on by blocks of fear and shame, BUT there is a path of clarity, empowerment, and ease on which the artist can live in harmony with their process, uncover their unique voice, and move through their blocks, learning to create from the powerful posture of wholeness and truth. 

Centering your practice around the process of becoming rather than the product of creating, The Living Artist lights the way back to the fulfillment, confidence, authenticity, and freedom found in a life of creative well-being. Offering the powerful, multi-modality live workshop series, enlightening and inspiring talks with matured artists and professionals, and nurturing space and community in which to grow and receive feedback, The Living Artist is the holistic approach to living a creative life. 

Live well. Create More

https://thelivingartist.art

In this episode, we speak to Steven Dayvid McKellar, a musician, painter, and poet from Cape Town, South Africa. After a 20-year music career, touring globally with his band, Civil Twilight, Steven began releasing his first solo records and returned to his roots in painting. As a child, he was trained in realism by his aunt and renowned South African artist Donna McKellar before finding community and creative outlet through music and poetry.

After a debut solo show of his early paintings in Nashville, TN, Steven has been refining his process and deepening his relationship with the medium by exploring identity. Nooit Ge Dacht is his latest series of paintings, sketches, and pastels of everyday objects endowed with meaning regarding his personal journey of growth. Steven Dayvid McKellar: Nooit ge Dacht is displayed at El NIDO by VC Projects from April 21 – May 27th, 2023.

This 60-minute talk is both sincere and intimate. We both meet on Zoom, myself in the exhibition space, contemplating Steven’s art and Steven's at his apartment in Highland Park. I ask questions about the hows and why’s of his artwork, his solo music career, and his studio practice. I gently nudge Steven to voice his deepest memories relative to his sense of self. The talk touches on creation, observation and Steven’s personal need to observe the world while recording his findings through the artmaking process, whether visual or sound art.

We also contemplate the ‘new era of art,’ venturing into self-awareness and liberation. Steven talks about how he prepares his mindscape, mentioning meditation and other structures that guide him. We both weigh our viewpoints and how art-making may evolve during this time of massive information. From my point of view, art is about feeling and documenting the world around you, sharing ideas, or asking questions. Steven talks about what art is for him. Towards the end, I ask Steven the traditional last question, “What would you tell your younger self? Steven’s answer is quite surprising, a hint, receiving, time passage, and entertaining comments about earthly success. Expect another podcast soon, as we had so much to talk about.

Steven Dayvid McKellar: Nooit ge Dacht, an exhibition of paintings, drawings, objects, and sound, on view at El Nido by VC Projects, Los Angeles, April 21 – May 27, 2023

Website for El Nido by VC Projects: www.vcprojects.art

Steven’s website: https://stevendayvidmckellar.com

In this episode, we meet in Los Angeles with KARNEJ and Stevie Kincheloe regarding the inauguration of Gestura1 (2/16/23) and 1.2 (2/18/2023) and to untangle the curious web of what and how the experience came about. Was it a performance? Maybe but not; instead, from my point of view, it was something between a birth and exorcism (without the evil spirits.) We unpack the mystery of both events and share our experiences which touch on elements of intention, improvisation, actuality, sacred space, object-hood, primal states, realms of spirituality, and altered consciousness. 

However, during the event, the outcome was uniquely different. Each held a certain amount of rehearsal time, but long-lead lines were left for interpretation at the designated date. Gestura is a series of monthly performances encompassing sound, words, objects, movement, and artificial intelligence components. The series seeks to make visible the importance of gesture in play, gestura1 is a scenario contrived by KARNEJ with the help of dancer/interpreter Stevie Kincheloe. During gestura 1 and 1.2, both collaborated with movement-tracking body sensors, modular electronics, and A.I. text transcribers to create a spoken word piece consisting of triggered vocalized words/phrases. 

During this talk, we grapple with the facts, carefully examining each event's physical and psychological landscape. We listen carefully, honoring various perspectives and aspects of non-authorship. I tap into their flow, and what is revealed is an intriguing discussion exploring thing-hood, collective consciousness, and variables of existence and spirituality. I share the panic I felt within the space, as I didn't know where to go in my mind or what to perceive. I was glitching. I challenged them to understand my side of the experience as a spectator.

"The gestures of both participants and the curation/editing of the vocal recordings used are the sole content of the work while the flows of context ignited after that generate its form. The result is an oracular stream of implied meaningfulness, juxtapositions of narrative with flickering, glitching vocalizations. But what's important is not the result but the possibilities catalyzed by the process as a whole— gestura2 (03/30/23) will include the participation of those attending in its process and performance, making the series an interactive collaboration by way of the machine."

We are reminded KARNEJ is the origin point of various media instigations. In the past, these have taken the form and appearance of visual art, poetry, and sound/music in galleries and performance spaces in the U.S. (MX Gallery, Filosofi Arts, Interstate Projects, P.S. 1 and WFMU, Montez Press Radio in N.Y.) and abroad (performances in Centro de Cultura Digital, Centro Cultural de España in Mexico City and Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona and Vigo, Spain).

Also, KARNEJ is a dwelling. A something and somewhere resisting authorship through faith in personal and collective codes. It prioritizes communion between different modes through chance encounters where the experience of rupture can emerge. The gestura series continues on the third Thursday of every month in EL NIDO.

An interdisciplinary artist, Stevie Kincheloe, understands movement as a conversation between the physical and metaphysical planes. What began as a path to opening that notoriously elusive portal of inspiration, her movement meditations are becoming their own medium. A dismantling of the masks and false faces we show to the world, the intuitive moment is channeling the raw expression of the truth, moment to moment.

Visit the webpage to learn more: https://www.vcprojects.art/karnej-gestura1

We open this episode meeting Aya Metwalli in Bierut, just a three-weeks after her performance at ECLAT Neue Musik Festival, Stuttgart, accompanied by Tony Elieh. We hear about the audience and their 40-minute improvised set. Interestingly, Aya opened with an interpretation of an Oum Kulthum lyric. This brings an intriguing conversation about conjuring spirits. Aya states she enjoys “singing songs from the past that is not only an ode but also a grievance or funeral; these are things that still exist.” I agree the music of (Oum Kulthum) somehow refers to a “death of self.” The rest of the set consisted of vocals, electronics, and Tony’s electric bass. The compositions were born from ideas based on melody, chaos, and even ugliness. Aya not only called up Oum Kulthum’s spirit, but also other impressionable folklore. She said her methodology was to create a “ritualistic” track. Thankfully the performance was recorded and will be included on an upcoming album. We talk more about the “ritualistic” concept. Aya describes it as how she interprets something today; “tapping into her insides, back to a holy.” And how she portrays ugliness in her music. This is a fascinating answer, Aya reassures me; her interpretation of ugly is distorted dissonance out of the norm: “it taps into some part of you that other people may not want to welcome.”

Aya Metwalli (1988) is an Egyptian singer/songwriter, composer, and sound artist based in Beirut. She grew up in Cairo, where her father would play non-stop Oum Kalthoum songs on road trips to the beach. Her mother, known to have the most beautiful voice in the family, always sang at home and in gatherings with family and friends, and long before she was able to form her music taste, Aya was fed immense amounts of Arabic classic songs and melodies that now lie on a bed of velvet inside her subconscious mind.

Aya started fiddling with the upright piano they had at home around four. Soon after, she got her first solo singing gig on the preschool stage and continued practicing the piano and performing Arabic song repertoires throughout her school years. At seventeen, she bought her first guitar and self-learned the instrument while getting her bachelor’s degree in English literature. She posted cover songs on YouTube, slowly gathering a growing online fan base. Soon after, she wrote and composed her original songs on the acoustic guitar until she studied music production in 2014 in Cairo and stretched out her sound. She self-released her debut EP "Beitak," toward the end of 2016 and has been revamping her sound and developing her modus operandi since.

Described as “a musical enigma” by The Guardian and a musician who has "crafted a spellbinding brand of anti-pop" by Pitchfork, Aya uses analog synthesizers to produce gritty textures and strange, unsettling soundscapes. She sings heavily influenced by Arabic pop and classic melodies. She modulates her voice with electronics to delve even deeper into a world of eeriness, using heavy drones and drum machines to create a distorted, industrial body of sound crocheting noise with melody.

Over the past few years, she has performed solo live sets at Tectonics Festival in Greece, Norberg festival in Sweden, La Magnifique Avant-Garde in France, Irtijal Festival in Lebanon, played with the Lebanese free-rock powerhouse trio Calamita at the CTM festival and Die Akademie der Künste Berlin, been featured in Nicolas Jaar’s "sound- and light installation: Retaining the Energy, but Losing the Image" at Het HEM in the Netherlands, and ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival in September 2022. Aya composed for and performed with the contemporary vocal ensemble Neue Vocalsolisten in the framework of the ECLAT Contemporary Music Festival Stuttgart in February 2021 -  2022. In 2023, she returned to the ECLAT festival to do a 40-minute improvised set with Tony Elieh and performed at Bern Jazz Festival Switzerland. 

At present, Aya is working on her debut LP album and is further exploring live performance, continuing to incorporate theatricality into her shows.

In this episode, we meet in Hollywood at El NIDO to speak to KARNEJ about the gestura - a series of monthly performances encompassing sound, words, objects, movement, and artificial intelligence components. The series seeks to make visible the importance of gesture in play, gestura1 is a scenario contrived by KARNEJ with the help of dancer/interpreter Stevie Kincheloe. Both will collaborate with movement-tracking body sensors, modular electronics, and A.I. text transcribers to create a spoken word piece consisting of triggered vocalized words/phrases. In a way (so to speak), "dancing the poem." Its inauguration is Thursday, February 16th, at 7 pm at El NIDO. 

 We learn how the performance comes about and what it seeks - "a stream of implied meaningfulness" not contrived, instead hopefully raw output. 

 "The gestures of both participants and the curation/editing of the vocal recordings used are the sole content of the work while the flows of context ignited after that generate its form. The result is an oracular stream of implied meaningfulness, juxtapositions of narrative with flickering, glitching vocalizations. But what's important is not the result but the possibilities catalyzed by the process as a whole— gestura2 (03/16/23) will include the participation of those attending in its process and performance, making the series an interactive collaboration by way of the machine."

We uncover KARNEJ is the origin point of a variety of media instigations. In the past, these have taken the form and appearance of visual art, poetry, and sound/music in galleries and performance spaces in the U.S. (MX Gallery, Filosofi Arts, Interstate Projects, P.S. 1 and WFMU, Montez Press Radio in N.Y.) and abroad (performances in Centro de Cultura Digital, Centro Cultural de España in Mexico City and Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona and Vigo, Spain).

 Also, KARNEJ is a dwelling. A something and somewhere resisting authorship through faith in personal and collective codes. It prioritizes communion between different modes through chance encounters where the experience of rupture can emerge. The gestura series will continue on the third Thursday of every month in EL NIDO. 

 The conversation is fascinating as we unravel the instigation of this unique performance series. I also share my views about the necessity to witness various concepts of experimentation to more profound any individual's studio practice. Further, we explore elements of non-authorship and precisely what that means to this series. And of course, I ask KARNEJ the famous last question of what would you say to your younger self or rather "words of wisdom" to other individuals. The answer is surprising, as each of my guests always has interesting autographical comments that inform human existence to all creatives, regardless of what stage.  

https://www.vcprojects.art/karnej-gestura1