G W A L T N E Y

G W A L T N E Y

April 1 to May 1, 2016Reception for the artist: Saturday, April 2, 5:30 to 7:30 pm Front Cover: Chris Gwaltney, Homesick (detail), oil on canvas, 2016, 34 x 38 inBack Cover: Chris Gwaltney, Rituals (detail), oil on canvas, 2016, 52 x 60 in

Photo Credit: Brenda Bredvik

Direct inquiries to: Seager Gray Gallery108 Throckmorton AvenueMill Valley, CA 94941415-384-8288 seagergray.com

All rights reserved. Catalog can be purchased through the gallery for $20 plus handling and shipping. Email us at art@seagergray.com

G W A L T N E YA retrospective of Chris Gwaltney’s 30 years of exhibition history would read like an intimate chronology of the artist’s life. Gwaltney’s paintings have always been a reflection of his daily existence and his place in it. His source material has been his family – his children at their various ages, his wife, Jill, his parents and in-laws, who have had a great influence on his life. His representations are not literal, however. For Gwaltney, gestures and their implied emotions are more important than pure representation. The figures come to being in ambiguous abstracted space, often informed by the bright sunlit colors of the Laguna coastline where he has made his home and studio.

For Gwaltney, the figure is expressed as a gesture, a presence simply articulated with line and stroke, often seen as walking alone or in relation to one or more figures. His process has always been reductive, building and sketching on the canvas, then taking away what is unnecessary, paring down the visual language. In this - and in his interest in color relations, he might be compared to Milton Avery, although he is more likely to site artists like Diebenkorn and Oliveira, particularly in the most recent works. In this newest series, he begins with the figure on the canvas and adds rather than reduces, creating an often ambivalent atmosphere in which the figure must define itself.

Gwaltney’s Bay Area roots run deep. The Mill Valley exhibition, simply entitled GWALTNEY represents the artist’s 20th one person show in the Bay Area in as many years. There is a shift in these works. The figures are often solitary and walking in a landscape that is mysterious and misty. It is a time of solitude and reflection for Gwaltney. If earlier paintings examined the artist in relationship to his family in the external world, these are more about the artist in relationship to himself. They are Intimate and personal reflecting a mature artist’s musings on his life.

Chris Gwaltney Vulnerable

oil on canvas, 201652 x 60 in

Chris Gwaltney Rituals

oil on canvas, 201652 x 60 in

Chris Gwaltney Definite

oil on canvas, 201665 x 57 in

Chris Gwaltney Structure of Being

oil on canvas, 201644 x 60 in

Chris Gwaltney The Arena

oil on canvas, 201660 x 44 in

Chris Gwaltney Storehouse

oil on canvas, 201665 x 57 in

Chris Gwaltney Homesick

oil on canvas, 201634 x 38 in

Chris Gwaltney Resolve

oil on canvas, 201644 x 50 in

Chris Gwaltney My Echo

oil on canvas, 201644 x 55 in

Chris Gwaltney Umber oil on canvas, 201624 x 21 in

Chris Gwaltney Wife, Daughter, Mother, Sister

oil on canvas, 201621 x 24 in

CHRIS GWALTNEY

Education

California Community Colleges, Instructor Credential, 1987 California State University, Fullerton, M.F.A., 1986California State University, Fullerton, B.A., 1984

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2015 Cadogan Contemporary, London, England2015 Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT2014 Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2014 Tria Gallery, Chelsea, NY2014 Brett Rubbico Gallery, Newport Beach, CA2013 Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA2013 Tria Gallery, Chelsea, NY2013 Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2012 Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA2012 Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2011 Tria Gallery, Chelsea, NY2011 Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT2010 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2010 Shadow and Absence2009 Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT2009 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2008 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2007 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2007 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2006 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2006 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2005 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2005 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2004 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2004 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2003 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2003 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2002 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2002 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2001 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2001 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2000 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

2000 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA1999 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA1999 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA1998 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA1998 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA1997 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA1997 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA1996 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA1996 Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA1996 Renaissance Cafe, Laguna Beach, California1995 More New Work, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach1995 Contemporary Figure, Robert Green Gallery 1995 Collaboration, Artist-in-Residence, UC, Irvine 1994 New Work, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach 1993 Recent Paintings, Five Feet Restaurant, Laguna Beach1993 New Paintings, Renaissance Cafe, Laguna Beach, 1992 Essential Visions, Bistango Gallery, Irvine, California1991 Source Material, New Work, Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California1991 Recent Paintings, Renaissance Cafe, Laguna Beach 1990 Twelve Recent Paintings, Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California1989 Recent Paintings, Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach1989 Figure Eight, Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach1988 S.I.T.E. Gallery, Los Angeles, California1988 Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California1988 More Questions, Fewer Answers, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art1988 Gallery of Art, Rancho Santa Fe, California1987 Irvine Valley College, Irvine, California1986 Diane Sassone Gallery, Laguna Beach, California1986 California State University, Fullerton West Gallery

Selected Group Exhibitions

2014 Tria Gallery, Chelsea, NY2013 Sue Greenwood Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2013 Five, Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT

2012 Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA2012 Figures in Abstract, Seager/Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA2009 Figurative, Peter Blake/ LA Louvre, Laguna Beach, CA2007 Figurative, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA2005 Peter Blake Group Show, Peter Blake Gallery, CA2003 Summer Show, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA1998 Painters, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA1997 Gallery Artists, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA1996 Expressive Figure, Three Painters, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA1995 Recent Figure Paintings, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California1995 California Figurative, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA1994 International Art, Los Angeles, CA1994 California Painters, Concordia Univ., Irvine, California1994 Best of Laguna, Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA1994 Irvine Valley College Faculty, Irvine, California1993 Currents, Time /Space Gallery Laguna Beach, California1993 Faculty Exhibit, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, California1992 Essential Visions, Bistango, Irvine, CA1991 Faculty Exhibit, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA1991 Diane Nelson Gallery, Gallery’ Artists Group Show1990 Contemporary 4 ,Bistango , Irvine, CA1988 Furniture as the Artist’s Subject, Century Gallery, Sylmar, CA1989 Figure 8, Diane Nelson Gallery1989 Artists that Teach Art Institute of Southern California-Long Beach1989 City College Exchange, Long Beach, CA1989 S.I.T.E. Gallery, Culver City. CA1989 Faculty Exhibit, Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA1988 Faculty Exhibit, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA

1988 Faculty Exhibit, California State University Long Beach, CA1987 Amos Eno Gallery, Soho District, New York, NY1987 Spectrum Gallery, San Diego, CA1987 Diane Sassone Gallery, Gallery Artists, CA1987 Faculty Show, Ettinger Gallery, Art Institute of Southern California,1986 Orlando Gallery, Los Angeles, California1986 MFA Exchange Show, Claremont College, CA1984 All California ‘84, Laguna Beach Art Museum, CA

Selected Publications

Colburn, Bolton (Former Director Laguna Art Museum, Inde-pendent Curator). Chris Gwaltney World. Exhibition review, 2015, Seager Gray Gallery,

Marszalek, Norbert. Interview with Chris Gwaltney, (July 6, 2009) neotericART.com.

Carasso, Roberta, In Review, 2008 A Great Year for Art Lovers, Orange County Register.com (Oct 10, 2008).

Carasso, Roberta, Art Waves, Chris Gwaltney at New Peter Blake Gallery, (Oct 10, 2008) Orange County Register.com.

Walsh, Daniella, The Art Attack, Riviera Magazine (Oct 2008) pp 50-51.

Walsh, Daniella, The Radar Art, Riviera Magazine (Mar 2008) pp 84-85.

Step into Color, Riviera Magazine (Mar 2007) pp 180-181.

Thompson, Sandy, Chris Gwaltney at Robert Green Fine Arts, Artweek (Jul/Aug 2001 Volume 32 Issue 7/8) Cover + pg 20.

Thomas, Linda, A Circle of Orange, pp 150-151.

Carrasso,Roberta, Dazzling Colors Mark Gwaltney Exhibit at Blake Gallery, OC Register, Laguna News-Post, (Nov 4, 1999) p 24.

Walsh, Daniella, Chris Gwaltney-Recent Paintings, OC Register Encore (Oct 4, 1998).