The Other Art Fair
presents
Travels With
Gregg Chadwick
I am honored to have been chosen this week by The Other Art Fair Los Angeles director Nicole Garton as her Director’s Pick.
Deep thanks to Nicole Garton, The Other Art Fair and Saatchi Art. Please take a journey with me in the paintings below.
Arrivals and Departures
On June 26, 2015 Marriage Equality became the law of the land and with hundreds of others we celebrated on the Supreme Court steps. Later on that glorious day, I chatted with President Obama’s photographer Pete Souza in front of the White House which was lit up in rainbow colors in celebration of the LGBTQ community.
While we watched, the Presidential Marine Corps air unit returned with President Obama from his moving speech at the memorial service for the church folks who were gunned down by a young white supremacist in South Carolina. President Obama sang “Amazing Grace” that day.
In her current Netflix film Becoming, Michelle Obama reflects upon that day as well. Michelle Obama describes how she and her daughter Malia sneaked outside that night, needing to share in the crowd’s joy after all the terrible grief in Charleston. They let the jubilation soften their anguish. Arrivals and departures. The struggle for equality for all continues.
While we watched, the Presidential Marine Corps air unit returned with President Obama from his moving speech at the memorial service for the church folks who were gunned down by a young white supremacist in South Carolina. President Obama sang “Amazing Grace” that day.
In her current Netflix film Becoming, Michelle Obama reflects upon that day as well. Michelle Obama describes how she and her daughter Malia sneaked outside that night, needing to share in the crowd’s joy after all the terrible grief in Charleston. They let the jubilation soften their anguish. Arrivals and departures. The struggle for equality for all continues.
Steps of Time
In the morning light, a young monk walks along a path that has been traveled by other monks for centuries. This moment is an accumulation of all the moments that have come before and will occur again.
For 20 years, I have painted artworks inspired by the aspirational nature of Buddhism. “Gregg Chadwick paints scenes from the life of Asia that reminds us of the monastic life of pilgrimage which has been all but lost in the West.”
-Ratnagarbha and Thomas Jones
from “Urthona: Journal of Buddhism and the Arts” Issue 20
For 20 years, I have painted artworks inspired by the aspirational nature of Buddhism. “Gregg Chadwick paints scenes from the life of Asia that reminds us of the monastic life of pilgrimage which has been all but lost in the West.”
-Ratnagarbha and Thomas Jones
from “Urthona: Journal of Buddhism and the Arts” Issue 20
Bookseller’s Night
I was inspired by a sojourn in Paris near Montmartre. That summer the light hung on late into the evening until the sky rolled into the blue hour. While walking the Parisian streets under those deep blue skies, I would often stop to glance at books spread out like magical treatises on art and life. We lived that summer in the shadow of Monet, Manet, and Caillebotte. Two of Manet’s last studios were on our street and nearby on the Place de Dublin, Caillebotte set his magical painting Paris Street; Rainy Day (Rue de Paris, temps de pluie). Nearby was the Gare Saint-Lazare which inspired Monet to create Turneresque images of trains and steam. I carried those memories with me as I painted Bookseller’s Night along with time traveling thoughts of San Francisco and New York.
Spring Reader (Botanical Garden)
I am honored to have my painting The Reader (Botanical Garden) up for auction in this year’s Venice Family Clinic Art Walk and Auction. I’ve donated a painting to the cause for 15 years now and am excited to have this sensitive artwork in this year’s auction. To pick up a book and be transported to another world is one of life’s great pleasures. In my oil on panel painting, a woman sits with quiet dignity and reads on a spring day. One can almost smell honeysuckle in the air and feel a cool breeze on a warm day.
The Other Art Fair Online Studios can be found at the link https://www.saatchiart.com/studios/theotherartfair/los-angeles
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