Casa Regis: Center for Culture and Contemporary Art, Italy
Shane Guffogg: The Path of Light
solo exhibition
Casa Regis: Center for Culture and Contemporary Art, Italy
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Press
Shane Guffogg: “The Path of Light”, (solo exhibition)
December 24, 2020 - February 7, 2021
Casa Regis: Center for Culture and Contemporary Art
Mosso Valdilana, 13835 (BI) Italy
Dates and hours:
Dec. 24 - Feb. 7, 2021 (open 16:00-18:00 every day - except Dec. 25th - and by apt.)
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: Casa Regis: Center for Culture and Contemporary Art
Shane Guffogg, "737733", pastel on paper, 30 x 22 in, 2020
December 24th marks the opening of the solo exhibition, “The Path of Light” by artist Shane Guffogg, to be held in the suggestive 18th C. structure Casa Regis. Now a "Center for Culture and Contemporary Art", Casa Regis - located in the Piedmont hill town of Mosso - lies at the heart of traditional seasonal rituals around light, such as candle light processions and huge bonfires, typically held on the 24th of December. The building, with its thick old walls and frescoed ceilings, is the perfect backdrop for the artist's series, made specifically for the location and to be viewed in candle light.
“The Path of Light” exhibition consists of pastel on paper, and ink on paper artworks.
Guffogg’s works have explored light for over 40 years. Guffogg paints movements of illumination and shows us this path through abstract moments, often casting shadows that informs the viewer of the direction of light, painting the abstract moment as a new concept of realism, referencing the old Italian Renaissance Masters. But for Guffogg, light also serves as a visual metaphor for spirituality – light illuminates our physical world, allowing us to see our world and the mysteries that we are surrounded with.
Shane Guffogg, "737712", pastel on paper, 30 x 22 in, 2020
Shane Guffogg, "737746", pastel on paper, 30 x 22 in, 2020
This exhibition will consist of two groups of art work. The first group of works are pastel drawings on paper. These works are done without a preconceived idea and are moments that serve as a visual bridge between the subconscious and consciousness. The numbers at the bottom of each page are a count for the number of days that have transpired since day one of the Gregorian calendar, which most of the world now follows. Each number is equal to the rotation of the earth as the days become night and nights becomes day. This is again, the path of light, as counted by our idea of time. The sun reaches the lowest point in the sky on the 21nd of December and remains on this low trajectory for 3 days until on the 25th, the arc of the path of the sun slowly begins to rise again, until finally reaching its peak 6 months later, on June 20th. The path of light that informs us of the seasons of life.
Shane Guffogg, "737762", pastel on paper, 15 x 11.25 in, 2020
Shane Guffogg, "737760", pastel on paper, 15 x 11.25 in, 2020
The second group of works are from the ongoing Still Point series, made with ink, watercolor and acrylic on paper. Each showing an accumulation of lines, all looping around from the edges of the paper and being pulled back towards the center, like a solar system. Each line is a path stemming from that moment where the subconscious merges into our conscious reality. For Guffogg, creating these works are a form of mediation as he explores the words of the poet, TS Eliot, and his concept of the four seasons of life and through it all, there is a still point of the turning world.
The two groups of art are meditative moments that are meant to stop the viewer and help them to recognize themselves by becoming consciously aware of the moment, which is another way of saying, to be in the now. And like Guffogg’s Still Point series, this idea for the exhibition loops back to the beginning of where we started – The path of light – illuminating moments of time.
Shane Guffogg, "At the Still Point #5," ink on paper, 16.5 x 11.5 in, 2009
Shane Guffogg, "At the Still Point #7," ink on paper, 18 x 12 in, 2009
Shane Guffogg is an American artist who divides his time between his home in Hollywood and his four-acre ranch in Central California, where he also maintains a studio. His creativity is admired by people around the world, and coveted and collected by recognizable names such as president, Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, Dustin Hoffman, Meg Ryan, Ed Harris, Sean William Scott, and other world-famous politicians and Hollywood celebrities. Shane Guffogg’s artwork is also in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA, The museum of modern Art at the Duke University, Jumex Foundation museum in Mexico City, St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, The Imperial Museum of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, Russia, The Gallery of the Museum Center, Baku, Azerbaijan to name a few. He was born in Los Angeles where he also received an art education from California Institute of the Arts.
Casa Regis: Center for Culture and Contemporary Art, a non-profit association, has the mission of revealing the special qualities of the Piedmont hill towns and connecting this pristine region with the rest of Italy and the international community through the presence and exchange of artists working in contemporary art.
