Speed of Life

by Gregg Chadwick Gregg Chadwick Joshua Tree 24"x24" oil on linen 2014 My recent paintings are taking me to times and places that have deep resonance. This newest body of work is marked by time and memory and  explores our present reality in the context of the sometimes hauntingly real shadows that come and go in our daily existence.  At times  spiritual echoes find their way into my art. Sometimes this sense of something bigger or deeper than ourselves is found in the images and locations created within the paintings. At other times this numinous quality is carried by the light within the work. Recently in the studio, I have been thinking about the works of Caspar David Friedrich in  the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Many of Friedrich's paintings depict what I see as an Easter light - a light of promise and redemption.  Caspar David Friedrich Village Landscape In Morning Light 21 5/8 "x28" oil on canvas 1822 Nationalgalerie...

Salish Sea   Gregg Chadwick 30”x24” oil on linen 2014

Gregg Chadwick Sea and Shadow (Mare e Ombra) 30"x20" oil on linen 2014 Courtesy Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco Last night Italian pianist Giuseppina Torre gazed attentively at  my painting   Sea and Shadow (Mare e Ombra) and said to me,"La luce a Venezia è magica ." I agreed, the light in Venice is magic. And there is light in Giuseppina Torre's music as well. Earlier that evening in the Arena 1 Gallery at the Santa Monica Art Studios she gave us a taste of her haunting piano compositions at the opening of an  Italian cultural event entitled All Roads Lead to LA, presented in conjunction with the Istituto Italiano  di   Cultura  in Los Angeles. The celebration continues tonight with  poetry, music, fashion and the visual arts. The evening will begin with a poetry reading at 5 pm to be followed by an hour-long performance by Giuseppina Torre. A presentation of contemporary Italian fashion will round out the evening. ...

I was struck by this poignant video posted today on the New York Times site and thought how perfectly the Okinawan duo  Isamu Shimoji and Yukito Ara's song captures a longing for a distant home. Sung to the tune of "Danny Boy" their song reinterprets and reframes    Frederic Weatherly's classic and makes it both more personal and more global.  Isamu Shimoji and Yukito Ara's lyrics are below: Beloved child of mine, From beyond the skies is heard the voice of the flute calling to you. Summer has passed, the flowers of the season have fallen. You are preparing for the journey to distant lands. Through the summer when the grasses and flowers bloom and peak, Through the winter when the north winds bluster and blow, here on this island I’m always waiting for you. Beloved child of mine, o beloved child of mine! I’m watching and waiting for you to return, gentle and brave. As the seasons turn and you finally come home to the island of your b...

Gregg Chadwick The Emperor's Train 68"x144" oil on Japanese screen 2014 and   Empire State (Grand Central ) 72"x36" oil on linen 2013  Courtesy Sandra Lee Gallery As part of the Santa Monica Airport Artwalk 2014, my installation "Trains and Stations" will be on view in the Hangar West Gallery at the Santa Monica Art Studios. My studio #15, directly across from the screen, will also be open and will include new paintings on this theme. Opening reception - Saturday, March 15, 2014 from 12 - 5pm "Trains and Stations" was inspired by the powerful music of Michael McDermott and his band The Westies and the memory of my Grandfather Arthur Desch who made his living as a train engineer on the Jersey Central Line. Listen to Trains here:  https://www.facebook.com/westiesmusic/posts/10151723507858995 More at:   The Emperor's Train   http://www.smgov.net/Portals/Culture/content.aspx?id=15034   http://www.smgov...

Gregg Chadwick Pennsylvania 4901 54”x54” oil on linen 2014                                                  Recent Events: Winter 2014 1. My paintings were featured in the Sandra Lee Gallery booth  at  the  Palm Springs Fine Art Fair -an international art fair held Feb 13-16, 2014  at the Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. 2. From January 9, 2014 until February 28, 2014, at the Sandra Lee Gallery in San Francisco, California, my paintings were included in a group exhibition along with work by Kathryn Arnold, Henry Jackson, Irena Kononova, Jeremy Morgan, Jeffrey Palladini, Hyun Su Park, Daniel Phill, George Rivera, Jungsan Senim and others.  3. I was recently interviewed by the  Los Angeles Business Journal   for an article about the Saatchi Art Gallery....

Gregg Chadwick The Golden Hour 10"x8" oil on panel 2014 Happy Valentine's Day! I thought I would feature a new painting and Bruce Springsteen's haunting version of his song For You to honor lovers across the globe.

by Gregg Chadwick Gregg Chadwick     Deerhead  Diner 24”x36” oil on linen 2014 Like a scene pulled from a Scorsese film or lifted from a Sopranos’ episode, my painting “Deerhead Diner” evokes an American scene of tough guys and two bit joints. Inspired by an actual diner I would visit in Queens near LaGuardia airport, “Deerhead Diner” depicts a timeless yet vanishing world.

by Gregg Chadwick Beer for Homer at Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan photo by Gregg Chadwick I just love this new clip from Sunday's upcoming Simpsons episode which includes a wonderful and comedic tribute to animator Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The magic that Miyazaki has created resonates globally. Enjoy! Robot From Castle in the Sky at Ghibli Museum photo  by Gregg Chadwick

Gregg Chadwick l'Horloge   de  Baudelaire (Baudelaire's Clock)  40" x 30" oil on linen 2013 courtesy  Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, California Opening on January 9, 2014, from 5:00-7:30pm, at the Sandra Lee Gallery in San Francisco, California is a new  group  exhibition  which  includes my artwork along with work by Kathryn Arnold, Henry Jackson, Irena  Kononova , Jeremy Morgan, Jeffrey  Palladini , Hyun Su Park, Daniel Phill, George Rivera,  Jungsan   Senim  and others. The exhibition runs until January 31, 2014. The Sandra Lee Gallery is located at:  251 Post Street, Suite 310, San Francisco, CA 94108 [t] 415.291.8000 art@sandraleegallery.com

Gregg Chadwick Mulholland Blue  24"x30" oil on linen 2013 Honored that my painting  Mulholland Blue   is included in Saatchi Online's "Best of 2013" feature: http://art.saatchionline.com/bestof2013/

Gregg Chadwick Night Swim, Kaufmann House 24"x30" oil on linen 2013 Courtesy Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, California   On Friday, December 13th, we chased away the demons with an inspiring book reading   at Book Soup on Sunset in Hollywood with the presentation of Burning the Midnight Oil: Illuminating Words for the Long Night's Journey into Day , which includes my essay Night Painting.  Please join us at Book Passage in Corte Madera on December 18, 2013 at 7 pm for our next event. I will again be reading. This marvelous book, edited by Phil Cousineau, includes an inspiring array of essays and poems: including pieces by Vincent Van Gogh, Walt Whitman, Pico Iyer, Rabandranath Tagore, Mary Oliver, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Jorge Borges, William Blake, Mikkel Aaland, Kent Chadwick, Alexander Eliot, Jane Winslow Eliot, Li Po , Antler, Annie Dillard, Charles Bukowski, R B Morris, Willis Barnstone,  Bruce Chatwin, James Norwood Pratt, Tess ...

The Courage to Create WEEKEND OF DECEMBER 6-8, 2013 Gregg Chadwick The Painter ( il miglior fabbro ) 24"x30" oil on linen 2013 What role does creativity play in our lives? Is it an inner imperative that helps us forge the well-lived life? This workshop at Esalen, situated along California's rugged Big Sur coastline, engages with the notion that creativity is a “battle with the gods” in light of its Latin origins in the word  creare , the natural urge “to grow or make order of chaos." Our point of departure is that creativity is an archetypal journey with recognizable stages, which are especially helpful when we are stuck or lost in our work. For the last thirty years, Phil Cousineau has used his three-stage model — Inspiration, Perspiration, and Realization — as a guide to help writers, artists, and filmmakers to deepen and complete their work. The artist Gregg Chadwick uses his own artwork and anecdotes from his lifelong study of painters to prov...

 Bruce Springsteen On His New Album High Hopes : I was working on a record of some of our best unreleased material from the past decade when Tom Morello (sitting in for Steve during the Australian leg of our tour) suggested we ought to add “High Hopes” to our live set.  I had cut “High Hopes,” a song by Tim Scott McConnell of the LA based Havalinas, in the 90′s.  We worked it up in our Aussie rehearsals and Tom then proceeded to burn the house down with it.  We re-cut it mid tour at Studios 301 in Sydney along with “Just Like Fire Would,” a song from one of my favorite early Australian punk bands, The Saints (check out “I’m Stranded ”).  Tom and his guitar became my muse, pushing the rest of this project to another level.  Thanks for the inspiration Tom. Some of these songs, “American Skin” and “Ghost of Tom Joad,” you’ ll be familiar with from our live versions.  I felt they were among the best of...