This episode connects us with L. Mikelle Standbridge at her studio just outside of Milan, Italy. During the talk, we discuss her solo exhibition "The Host or the Guest?" on view at El Nido art space in East Hollywood, curated by VC Projects. (Exhibition dates: July 31 - September 11th, 2021)

The art of L. Mikelle Standbridge is a passionate endeavor, thoughtfully narrating personal stories about her subject’s embodiment. Varying in size and shape, her delicate one-of-a-kind pieces are derived from the reconfiguration of photographic prints, exploring a paper that the artist refers to as “pulpy, pierceable, stitchable, and flexible.” The work might have multiple layers or be hand-torn and stitched along the edges. It is not unusual to find works stacked on top of each other on a shelf or suspended with moving parts. All the while, these images are set within detailed backgrounds that explore intimacy, ensuring the connection between the subject and the maker. 

Standbridge says, "I am profoundly interested in Photography and this interest informs my subject matter and presentation choices. This series, Photo-Bodies, is in part dedicated to what has probably been photography’s most astounding characteristic and that is - in the form of portraiture or a "likeness"- having the uncanny, powerful potential of alluding to the non-visible, to an emanation (such as a personality, a soul, or an aura of a person). By photographing people, especially people who have undergone alterations to their bodies or whose lives are dominated by their appearance, my body of work hovers around the question of physicality (what it might reveal, what it might cover-up)."

Link to the exhibition: https://www.vcprojects.art/l-mikelle-standbridge-the-host-or-the-guest

Visit the artist's website: http://www.standbridge.net

In this episode, my guest Shane Guffogg and I discuss the release of the first episode of "The art of Art", which is a new program that delves into the creative process of visual and performing artists, hosted by Los Angeles-based artist Shane Guffogg and released on the newly launched independent arts hub HIERONYVISION, https://hieronyvision.com

There are multiple episodes for each artist which will gradually be released one by one. A few prequel episodes feature the host, Shane Guffogg, setting the groundwork for the look and feel of the show, introducing the audience to Guffogg’s art and perspective of living the life of an artist. The first series episode is with Laura Hipke, who shares the inspiration she gets from the photographs of August Sander and how she transforms his black and white portraits into her own narrative that further explores the human condition in her painting. 

The visuals of each episode are a feast for the eyes as Guffogg takes the viewer for studio and gallery visits that set the tone for insightful discussions about the impulse to create and the techniques that are used, giving this series a rare, behind the scenes look into our human need to express and communicate through art.

For more information on Shane Guffogg visit: https://www.shaneguffogg.com

In this interview, 𝐁𝐣𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐣ö𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 and I talk about aesthetics and body consciousness in painting. 

I also learn about the inspiration behind his mysterious oil and water plexiglass paintings. 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐣ö𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 says that he prefers to live within the process of his works over thinking about them. On growing up in Iceland, "I would say it's like an open wound or the skin of the earth, in a sense. Where you have all kinds of elemental forces very open here in Iceland." On embodiment and abstraction, I don't think he is painting the landscape around him. The artist says, "It has nothing to do with that, I sometimes have a problem with landscape paintings, but still [chuckles] I do-- it's the feeling of how you are-- you are the landscape that you are within."

Painting for 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐣ö𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 is about spontaneity; it is an intuitive process. We comment on Kant's quote: "art-making – the interplay of free imagination and understanding." Join us for an in-depth conversation about art, studio life, Nordic mythology, and much more. 

𝐁𝐣𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐣ö𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 received his Bachelors and Masters of Fine Art at San Francisco Institute of the Art. After completing his degrees, he returned to Reykjavik to continue his career in art. During this time, the artist received a two-year stipend from, Icelandic Government for a sizeable site-specific land commission that combined painting and sculpture. In 2003, he took part in Los Angeles International Biennial, and the following year, he participated in the Pilsen International Biennial of Drawing. Over the past 25 years, 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐣ö𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 has had numerous gallery and museums exhibitions in the U.S.A. and Europe.

Visit the artist's website: http://www.bjarnisig.com

In terms of the artist's practice, alchemy is turning organic matter into paint. It’s the transformation from one element to another. The artist is one who takes materials and turns them into a portal to another realm. All this comes about in a silent and universal language for the viewer to feel, and reflect. In this talk, Shane Guffogg, and I explore his process and much more.

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. https://www.shaneguffogg.com

This is an insightful conversation about art, as we listen to the art dealer and artist explore topics of art and creativity. This also covers Guffogg’s current solo exhibition, “The One Picture Show” at GrossArt at SPACE 1028 located in East Hollywood. The dialogue explores the colossal 7-foot by 9-foot painting, “At the Still Point of the Turning World – Only Through Time is Time Conquered” and how Guffogg arrived at this massive painting and everything else along the way. The two share keynotes about other works in the exhibition.

Adam Gross and Shane Guffogg first met in 1996 when Gross was the director of the Kantor Gallery in West Hollywood. Since then, Gross has gone on to have an illustrious career in the art world as head of Contemporary Art Auctions at Butterfield & Butterfield, co-launched Pharmaka with Guffogg, Associate Director of Development at MOCA Los Angeles, Executive Director Art Platform–Los Angeles, Adjunct Professor Sotheby’s Art Institute, Director of The Lapis Press, before opening GrossArt at SPACE 1028. https://www.grossartla.com

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. https://www.shaneguffogg.com

In this discussion, Shane Guffogg and I discuss his series, "Ginevra de Benci" inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's painting of 1474-78 of the same title. I ask Guffogg what prompted him to take on the monumental task of interpreting the Old Master's portrait of the 15th-century Florentine aristocrat. Guffogg created 52 paintings in his series, and he explains his intrigue, the process, and more. 

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. 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 of "Conversations About Art,” VC Projects (Victoria Chapman), speaks with David Mather about his color drawings and how he approaches color through the history of art and through techniques of perceptual attentiveness. Mather discusses how he combines theories and practices in works that calibrate their viewers to an expanded awareness of color combinations. This conversation was recorded in Los Angeles in late March 2021.

David Mather - biography

As a trained art historian and intellectual historian (Ph.D., UC San Diego, 2011) with a fine art degree (BFA, UC Santa Cruz, 1994), Mather has explored a wide range of color theories and practices, and he has published widely in academic books and scholarly journals on aspects of color in modern art, particularly in his area of specialization Italian futurism. During his 2012–13 postdoctoral fellowship residency at the Getty Research Institute (during the annual scholar theme of "Color"), he developed and lectured on chromatic vitality in the works of early Italian futurist painters. As a college professor, Mather has taught and mentored undergraduate and graduate students on various topics relating to color, and, over the years, his writings have moved toward greater intellectual and creative engagement with some of the overlapping, interdisciplinary concerns revolving around color and its usage in the fields of art, science, and technology. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Intro music excerpt from Jon Hassell, Dreamworld (Dance), 1988

In this discussion, Shane Guffogg and I continue our talk about views on art and spirituality. The artist shares the story of how he came across T.S. Eliot’s four-part poem, “Four Quartets”. How it led him to find his own ‘still point’, all the while, knee-deep into the days of Pharmaka (Los Angeles exhibition space) and arts commissioner for Downtown Los Angeles. Guffogg recites the T. S. Eliot, the passage below, scratching the surface of what has sparked his intuition to create over 80 ‘still point’ paintings since 2009.

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 dance. I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where. And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time. 

(Passage from, Quartet No 1 of 4 “Burn’t Norton” written in 1936, by T.S. Eliot)

Episode seven continues to explore Guffogg’s process of art-making based on the search for internal truth. There is also mention of the humanist philosopher, Marsilio Ficino’s, “De Amore, A Guide to Plato’s Symposium” (1484) and its inspiration. I make notes along the way questioning Guffogg, “What is spirituality?” This episode is a bit longer, as we move around the studio describing ‘still point’ paintings, their essences, and how Guffogg arrives at them. The artist announces, (metaphorically) that he dips his toes into the universe, in search of the bigger picture.

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. 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

Music by April Aberdeen and Shane Guffogg

Special thanks to Greta Stromquist 

To see photos, visit our website: www.vcprojects.art

In this discussion, Shane Guffogg and I explore the many facets of art and spirituality. We observe how this topic seeps into his everyday life and ultimately into his paintings.  We also briefly talk about Francis Bacon’s crucifixion paintings. I ask questions about the late artist’s spiritual search into the depths of humanity and how he might have arrived. We compare Bacon’s process to Guffogg’s. The topic of art and spirituality is vast, and it is an endless subject I am deeply intrigued by. There is no doubt this is part one of many more discussions to embrace. 

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. 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

Music by April Aberdeen and Shane Guffogg

Special thanks to Greta Stromquist

See more images from this episode: www.vcprojects.art

In this episode, Shane Guffogg and I explore his painting series, “A Rose is a Rose, is a Rose”. The series is partly inspired by Gertrude Stein’s sentence, A rose is a rose is a rose, from the 1913 poem, “Sacred Emily” which appeared in the 1922 book, “Geography and Plays”. In Guffogg’s case, the rose symbolism is also inspired by his orchard located at his ranch in Central California where he now has over 100 fruit trees of different varieties. 

Guffogg’s paintings play with the sentence that Stein so passionately defended during her lecture at Oxford University, where she said, “When the Romantics used the word “rose” they were referencing an actual rose that was red, which has inhabited English poetry for a hundred years!” In Stein’s case, she was referencing “that things are what they are.” She wanted to take the word away from the laws of identity by stating the first rose was about the name of a person, the second rose a nod to the flower and the third rose referenced a concept. This was the beginning of the universal debate. Guffogg, recalled while at Cal Arts, there was a similar controversy in the air about the conceptual landscape for creating art. After rereading Stein’s poetry, an inner dialogue came about – the artist has proposed the question to his viewer by way of his paintings, prompting the audience to reconsider Stein’s poem and contemplate the essence of how we consider identity through language – is a rose a rose? Regardless of this discussion, the paintings reveal a frozen moment, depicted the delicacy and fragility of life through line, color, and lyrical shapes, all distinct parts of Guffogg's silent poems. The paintings also unveil what could be deciphered like a musical score that illuminates the human need for expression. This moment shines through their refined beauty, turning within to recall their own inner wisdom nature provides us.

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

Music by April Aberdeen and Shane Guffogg

Special thanks to Greta Stromquist

See more images from this episode: www.vcprojects.art