PREVIOUS SHOW
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Exhibition:
ERIC
GRAY
Small
Paintings
October 19 - November 23,
2013
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Small
Paintings
by Eric
Gray
Though Eric was born in San Diego California,
his formative years were spent in Japan. He
attended Yochien (Japanese Kindergarten). He
spoke Japanese as though it was his native
tongue - in fact - he spoke it with the accent
of the Ibarakiken prefecture in which he lived.
Even when he returned to the United States, he
found it more comfortable to communicate to his
sister in Japanese. During his college years (at
Principia College in Elsah IL) - a time when he
was trying to better understand and develop his
aesthetic preferences - it was Japan that
beckoned. He spent more time in Japan then and
in these visits he was especially inspired by
the traditional Japanese zen aesthetic. It is in
the values of "wabi-sabi"- in the aesthetic
sensibilities of the tea ceremony - and in the
works and lives of monks like Sen no Rikyu that
still are at the core of Ericfs work. It showed
him that it is more creative to create rules
than to break them. It showed him that at the
heart of the creative act is discipline and
order. It showed him that spontaneity and
impulse do not need to be courted or even
encouraged but also not forbidden. It showed him
that contradictions are inherent.
All of Eric's paintings stem from his own
internal rules and agreements.
Agreements that dictate "living thinking" -
agreements that help to avoid the meretricious -
agreements that are felt more often than known.
However some of the rules or agreements are more
tangible. In the project Elsah100 - the
paintings would be of Elsah IL (they were
largely painted while Eric was the primary care
taker of his two small children) - they would be
on pre-made canvas sized 6" X 8" - and there
specific names would be numbers between 1 and
100. Backyard and Backyard Studio stem from the
limitations imposed on Eric by Eric during his
time spent in a suburban home in Davis CA. River
Road is part of a series of landscapes that Eric
has returned to over the years.
In addition to painting, Eric's art is a
social practice. Just this summer his piece
entitled "I am Muhammed al-Qahtani" part of a
larger MFA thesis show for Washington University
at the Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis MO,
involved the museum audience and engaged the
larger community. He is currently collaborating
with several others in starting a high school
based on many of the ideas of Rudolf Steiner (a
primary influence on the transformational German
artist Joseph Beuys). The Central Vermont High
School Initiative is a site specific education
located on the Campus of Goddard College in
Plainfield VT. Eric is currently working and
largely residing on Spruce Mountain in
Plainfield Vermont. He is continuing to work on
his small paintings while engaging the larger
community with CVHSI.
https://centralvthighschool.wordpress.com
802-505-3557
ericdavidgray@gmail.com
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Selected
Exhibitions::
2013 Satellite Highway
St. Louis MO
2013 MFA Thesis
Kemper Museum, St. Louis MO
2012 Reading ISN 063 Interrogation Log
Bank, St. Louis MO
2012 Juvenile Delinquents
St Louis MO
2010 ART in Embassies Program, US
Department of State, Manila, The
Philippines
2010 Contemporary Oil Painting
Chez M Gallery, Washington, District of
Columbia
2009 Finding Restraint
Potomac Boat Club, Washington, District of
Columbia
Education:
MFA Washington
University
Rudolph Steiner College
Honolulu Academy of the Arts
Principia College
Iolani
Yochien, Tsukuba Japan
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Exhibition:
Contemporary
Jewelry Exhibition
Oct. 25 - Nov. 30,
2011
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Statement
We are exhibiting group
show of Japanese contemporary Jewelry at this
event.
The four of us met through
our interests in contemporary jewelry and a shared
common compassion for art. Some of us are based in
the U.S, others are in Japan, working on expressing
our individual point of views and subject matter.
Our first exhibition will take place in Gallery
Chez M in Washington DC.
As we were in the process
of finalizing the plan for this exhibition, the
Great East Japan Earthquake occurred and left a
massive impact on the world. Each of us deeply
contemplated what we can do as Japanese nationals
and also as artists to over come this incident
since then. The answer was to channel all of our
ability as artists to our creations for rising
awareness of Japanese artists.
This is our starting point
of exhibiting our work to the world.
I hope to see you at the
Gallery Chez M.
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Exhibition:
Keiko
MATSUMOTO
Jewelry
Exhibition
Oct. 25 - Nov. 30, 2011
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Exhibition:
Machiko
SHISHIDO
Earthenware
& Porcelain
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Exhibition:
ERIC
GRAY
Oil
Painting
April 24 - May 23, 2010
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Brief
description of Eric's artwork:
Gray's work is mainly oil on canvas. Abstracted
landscapes and interiors, sometimes with figures,
constitute his subject matter. Gray's art is
equally influenced by having spent his formative
years in Japan and by the aesthetics of Western
painters such as Cezanne, Matisse, and
Diebenkorn.
Aesthetic
statement:
"I seek to create a visual conversation between
austerity and ecstasy. My art is an attempt to
represent the natural balance of my more ordered
influences with my more chaotic ones. It is a quest
to be free of constraints while at the same time
seeking constraints. It is finding that order and
chaos are not mutually exclusive, but dependent on
each other."
Press Release
from recent show:
52nd
City's Interview with Gray for 123
Money: I heard there was something else
Artist Eric Gray has a very subtle quality to
his art as well as his personality. Traveling from
the quiet town of Elsah, IL where he and his wife
currently live. Eric spends his time taking care of
his son while slowly building a body of artwork
which includes drawings, collages and most
importantly, oil paintings.
I asked him about the raw look of his paintings
and he responded with, "sometimes it's not about
the final result", then he adds, "the history of
the painting, the process of me painting it is the
painting...getting to a point of simplicity" and
ending with "I work really hard to make it look
like I'm not working really hard".
When you look at his work you'll see pure
emotion displayed along with sophisticated
compositions and interesting color schemes. His
work starts with something from the external world
but ends up representing a space from his internal
world. I like to describe his work like a bridge
built from the tension that exists between reality
and the abstract. A bridge you can safely walk on.
Be sure to take your time and enjoy the view.
On Friday Feb 6 City Art Supply will host a
small, informal opening for Eric Gray's work which
will hang in the shop until Feb 28.
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Resume:
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 Contemporary Oil Painting, Chez M
Gallery, Washington, District of Columbia
2010 Eric Gray: Chaordic Works, Baked &
Wired Cafe, Washington, District of Columbia
2009 Eric Gray: Finding Restraint Potomac Boat
Club, Washington, District of Columbia
2009 123 Money: I heard there was something
else, City Art Supply, St. Louis, Missouri
2007 Eric Gray: Landscapes and Interiors,Holt
Gallery, Principia College, Elsah, Illinois
2006 9H, Winters, California
2005 Worldblu, Washington, District of
Columbia
2002 Another Look at Home, Beyond Words Gallery,
Prescott, Arizona
2001 Salvatos Gallery and Cafe, St. Louis,
Missouri
2001 Wisconsin Avenue Exhibition, Washington,
District of Columbia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010 Main Street Gallery, Edwardsville,
Illinois
2009 Grafton Art Fair, Grafton, Illinois
2007 Fall Auction, Madison Country Arts Council,
Alton, Illinois
2005 Art Auction, Honolulu Waldorf School,
Hawaii
2000 Rendezvous '99, Gallery 10, Alton, Illinois
GOVERNMENT COLLECTIONS
2010 ART in Embassies Program, U.S.
Department of State, Manila, The Philippines
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
2007 Worldblu, Austin, Texas
COLLABORATIONS
2008 - 2010 The Monastic House, Gray
Family, Elsah, Illinois
2008 - 2010 Beltline Project, GRAY+DESIGN,
Godfrey, Illinois
2009 Rock Wall and Column, Sun Smith-Foret,
Elsah Illinois
2008 Mural Project, Pere Marquette Detention
Center, Grafton, Illinois
2008 Project Grafton, The Principia College,
Grafton, Illinois
2006 Trip to the Dump, D. Alex Gray, Davis,
California
WEB EXHIBITIONS
2007 View Art in Book Format
2006 Book of Reconstructions
2006 Scroll
2006 vii
2006 Frank
2006 Institutions
EDUCATION
2005 Rudolf Steiner College, Fairoaks,
California
2003-2005 Honolulu Waldorf High School Arts and
Humanities Teacher, Hawaii
2000 Honolulu Academy of the Arts, Hawaii
2000 Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art and World
Perspectives, Principia College, Elsah,
Illinois
1995 Iolani High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
1982-1984 Yochien, Tskuba, Japan
Biography:
Eric Gray was born in San Diego
California in 1977. His family soon moved to
Japan where he spent his formative years and
attended Yochien (Japanese Kindergarten).
Returning to Tokyo while in college, Gray
deepened his kinship with the culture. Though
Gray's art education is classically western, his
relationship with the aesthetics of Japan is the
foundation for his work.
Gray works in three distinct threads and, at
times, they weave together. One is painting and
drawing his surroundings. The influences of
traditional Japan, Cezanne, Morandi, Matisse,
and Diebenkorn, among others, permeates his
work. Gray draws constantly. Motifs include his
wife reading/knitting or scenes found through
simply looking in and around his studio. Second,
Gray works in an abstract mode which he calls
Chaordic, stemming from a book by Dee
Hawk. It is work that seeks to find harmony
between impulse and restraint, between chaos and
order.
Lastly, "Reconstructions" describes Gray's
art which are re-workings of found objects or
the re-shaping of existing works. A
Reconstruction can include words, sculpture,
collage, video, or a community collaborative
work. In Spring 2008, Project Grafton, a
collaborative multimedia, multidisciplinary
college course proposed by Gray, was implemented
at Principia College. In 2008/9, Gray directed
the design and implementation of a large mural
at the Pere Marquette Girls Juvenile Detention
Center.
Gray has shown his work in every place he has
lived. His work is found from Tokyo to Austin.
At a show in Winters, California in 2006, he
transformed a warehouse into a gallery which
included a site specific installation called
"Institution." The dismantling of "Institutions"
led to the video "Trip
to the Dump" where the installation found
its final resting place. Recently, Gray has been
working on the "Beltline Project," an ongoing
chaordic collaboration - a re-contextualization
of strip malls using upper Alton, IL as a focus.
He is also in the process of overseeing a public
mural project in downtown Alton with the girls
from Pere Marquette. These endeavors are part of
a larger collaboration to revitalize the Alton
area through the arts.
Through all these projects, it is painting
and drawing his immediate surroundings that is
the constant. Gray seeks to find his freedom
through restraint. It is in imposing an order on
himself that he is able to harmonize his
passions. Painting becomes a means of
manifesting a conversation between his divergent
tendencies and hopefully finding some beauty and
peace along the way.
Eric's website: www.ericgray.net
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Gallery hours:
Tues through Saturday, 12PM to 5PM. Closed Sundays and
Mondays.
Hours are subject to change, please call the gallery at
202-333-3888 before your visit.
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Copyright (c) Chez M,
All Rights Reserved.
