LOS ANGELES, CA.- Merry Karnowsky Gallery will present a solo exhibition by Gregory Euclide, “What Was Still In The Pause of My Advance.” Euclide’s multi media paintings and sculptures are meditations on nature and the way in which humans experience the natural world.
Euclide’s three-dimensional works begin with elaborate drawing-based paintings of picturesque landscapes on paper, to which he adds found objects, both organic and inorganic. By-products of human consumption are recycled and made beautiful- Styrofoam becomes a layer of snow, bubble wrap becomes a babbling brook, discarded blue paint becomes the sky. The artist finds beauty in the superficial, and uses discarded materials to show the regenerative properties of nature.
His masterful paintings and sculptures explore the ways people experience and interact with nature, from idealizing its beauty to attempting to dominate and control the land. Euclide challenges the traditional flat depiction of landscapes by using discarded materials that can visually transform. For example, pools of thick, raw, liquid paint mimic the properties of the rivers and streams they depict, while exposing the illusion of traditional artistic representation of nature.
The artist says of his work: “The exaggerated folds of the thick watercolor paper transform the flat, framed image of the traditional landscape into a dimensional topography that cannot be completely owned from one vantage point. The three-dimensional forms of these new terrains -- painted on both sides and containing hidden vignettes -- encourage the kind of exploration one might find in nature rather than a traditional picture.”
Originally from rural Wisconsin, Euclide holds an MFA in Studio Art from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has been awarded two Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants and a Jerome Foundation Residency through the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary. His work has been showing regularly around the United States since 2004, from intimate gallery spaces to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. He currently lives in Minnesota, where he teaches both high school and college.
