Speed of Life

2010 Update: The 4th Annual Santa Monica Airport Artwalk is on March 20, 2010 from 1-5pm Details at: Airport Artwalk Gregg Chadwick The Presence of Light 48"x36" oil on linen 2009 When a painting seems to be finished I ask, "Is the work open enough to allow the viewer to enter into the painting and find their own path or story?" If not, I dive back in again. Coming up soon is the 3rd Annual Santa Monica Airport Artwalk on Saturday, March 28 from 1 to 5 pm. My studio will be open and I will have a group of new paintings on view. This will be a nice opportunity for you to take some time off from the stresses of our twittering world and to enter into my paintings in search of your own paths or stories. I will be in Tokyo but my talented friend, the singer/songwriter/dancer Kelly Colbert, will be on hand to answer questions and to engage you in conversation about art and perhaps, life? Gregg Chadwick Z...

Kelly Colbert Sings her new song 600 Acres inspired by Gregg Chadwick's painting Arlington. The song is a poignant tribute to those lost in the war in Iraq and in particular to the memory of the United States Marine Ahn Chanawongse. A bit of Ahn's Story: "Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse enlisted shortly after graduating from Waterford (Conn.) High School in 1999 over the objections of his mother, Tan Patchem. “He understood it was dangerous, and he was proud of doing it,” she said. Chanawongse died after his unit came under attack while attempting to secure a bridge. He had been listed as missing until April 16. Chanawongse, who came to the United States from Thailand at age 9, played youth soccer and planned from a young age to join the military. His grandfather is a veteran of the Thai air force. He was known to members of his unit as “Chuckles” for his sense of humor, and one friend said the avid snowboarder was talkative and outgoing: “Every time you turn around, he’s go...

Between Moment and Memory at the Julie Nester Gallery Almost back in Los Angeles after a stint in the mountains of Utah. Traveled without a laptop. No email. Spotty cell phone connections. Snow falling, almost covering our steps as we walked. Kelly Colbert Baynham and "The Chinese Sky" Of course the Sundance Film Festival was raging nearby - in Park City. And that too was rich in moments and inspiration. New paintings are forming in my mind. New images emerging as if from a dream. Back to the studio this evening. More soon.

by Gregg Chadwick Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Because The Night  Greensboro - March 19, 2012 The first Bruce Springsteen concert  I attended was a revelation, almost a rock n' roll revival. But there was also an undercurrent of pain and empathy. Two songs stood out for me that night. The first was Springsteen's haunting, solo piano version of  The Promise  which became a sound that I tried to get into my paintings from that day forward. The second was Bruce and the E Street Band's electrifying version of  Because the Night . I knew that Springsteen had penned the song and then given the not quite finished work to Patti Smith to complete and record. I took that song on as my romantic talisman. Somewhere down the line I knew I would find a partner who would feel the passion from those haunting lines and that searing music just as I did. My wife, MarySue, and I found each other in 2003 and  our friend, the singer/songwriter  Kelly Colbe...

Watching these poignant videos of Eddie Vedder singing with Bruce Springsteen and knowing that Tom Morello was offstage waiting for his next turn, I am called to thank the numerous mentors in my life. As an artist, sometimes it is only the artwork itself that carries its influence into your life. Other times it is the day to day connection with a teacher, colleague, or partner. And for me it has also been the powerful influence of my family and friends. From my blazingly intelligent wife MarySue Heilemann , to my brilliant brother Kent Chadwick , to my supportive parents Bob and Peg Chadwick, to my teachers Sam Amato and Jan Stussy at UCLA and Dale McConathy and Richard Martin at NYU, to my colleagues at the Santa Monica Art Studios , to the always inspiring writer Peter Clothier , to my gallerist in San Francisco Sandra Lee , to my collectors over all these years, to my new friend and colleague in the arts Barbara Drucker , to my agent Gwenda Joyce , to the insightful film and the...

Kelly Colbert, MarySue Heilemann, Alan Caudillo & Alana Caudillo at LOOK Gallery, Feb 18, 2010 Gregg Chadwick The Crossing and Arlington at LOOK Gallery, Feb 18, 2010 Ramon Lopez at LOOK Gallery, Feb 18, 2010 Saul Janson, Nell Marshall, Alana Caudillo & Alan Caudillo at LOOK Gallery, Feb 18, 2010 MarySue Heilemann, Huibrie Pieters, Kobus Pieters, Mat Gleason at LOOK Gallery, Feb 18, 2010

From the curator: Murmurs New Paintings By Gregg Chadwick Artwalk Culver City 2010 “In Gregg Chadwick’s paintings there is an elegiac tone, a kind of nostalgia for a manifestation of the purely spiritual that most of us can never hope to attain. The paintings are truly captivating in that they invite us irresistibly into their spaces and hold the attention there in their swirl of light and color, suggesting inexhaustible depths of experience for the eye to explore.” -Peter Clothier It is my pleasure to feature Gregg Chadwick’s artwork to a growing audience at the Artwalk Culver City 2010. Chadwick’s vision is global and inclusive. The paintings in Murmurs encourage viewers to travel into their haunting beauty. Fittingly, within the past year Chadwick’s paintings have entered collections in Tokyo, Rio, Paris, and Amsterdam as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. Chadwick is currently at work on paintings for a major exhibition slated to open in October 2010 at the Manifesta M...

  by Gregg Chadwick 44 years ago today, Bruce  Springsteen's  fourth album  Darkness on the Edge of Town was released. The wide open romanticism of Born to Run was missing from this new album. Instead we were greeted with a powerful mix of  Steinbeck, Hopper, Woody Guthrie, and Springsteen's unleashed guitar. Bruce's new guitar sound was both lyrical and powerful. I put that sound into my artistic toolbox and pull it out when I need to. In the opening track Badlands, Springsteen howls that "It ain't no sin to be glad your alive." I've held on to that line as a call to action ever since.  Gregg Chadwick Love In Vain (Castro - San Francisco) 16"x20"oil on linen 2016 I had just finished my freshman year at UCLA and  this was my first summer on the Monterey Bay in central California. The pace of life was so much slower than Los Angeles or Washington DC and I found time for study and reflection in the hours after my temp job finished. I would go fo...

by Gregg Chadwick "Wrecking Ball sounds like it's quite possibly Bruce’s best album in a quarter century, for what my opinion's worth. It's bracing and subversive and furious and sonically fearless. It's going to give voice to a generation. Certainly to an era. In that regard I'd put it shoulder to shoulder with Born to Run, Highway 61 Revisited, Exile on Main Street, London Calling, and American Idiot. Indelible. I hate hyperbole, but I've got to say I stand in awe of Bruce's ability to make music this angry and relevant and authentic at any stage of his career, never mind 40 years on. Thank God for him." -Novelist Dennis Lehane Bruce Springsteen's new album, Wrecking Ball (Listen to the full album streaming here) , was officially released in Europe and Australia today and will make its debut in the U.S.tomorrow - March 6, 2012. Over the past two weeks I have been writing song by song reviews of the album and have found that readers f...