“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 into transcendent works that become
testaments to thoughts that inform us of who we are in the 21st century.”

-Shane Guffogg 

 

     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 also 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.

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     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.

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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.

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The resulting works contain their own language of signs and symbols 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 what

Guffogg refers to the portal into 4th dimension, otherwise known as a Smartphone. 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.

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About the Artwork:

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Guffogg primarily works in the time-honored tradition of oil painting, using the visual
language of the past to create a new idiom of 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 has also manifested into glass with
the shapes originating 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, ties his sculptural ideas to an ancient history of glassmaking. These shadows have
also taken shape in Carrara marble.

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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.

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