VC PROJECTS

Transcending Time and Space: Reflections on Shane Guffogg’s SOLO EXHIBITION in Venice, ITALY

Written by Victoria Chapman                        

Shane Guffogg: “At the Still Point of the Turning World – Strangers of Time”

Presented by Patrick Carpentier, Curated by Pier Paolo Scelsi and Andi Campognone

Scala Contarini del Bovolo Museum, Venice, Italy 

Exhibition dates: April 2- November 24, 2024

Los Angeles-based artist Shane Guffogg’s oil paintings grace Venice, Italy, and can be seen during this year’s 60th Biennale.

 This year marks the 60th Venice Biennale, an event held every two years in Venice, Italy. With a history dating back to 1895, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious cultural events in the world. This year’s biennale, running from April 21 to November 24, 2024, is often compared to the Olympics of the art world, where the most influential artists, curators, critics, and collectors converge.

With every biennale, an artistic director is appointed. This year, Adriano Pedrosa holds this prestigious role, and the central exhibition's theme is "Foreigners Everywhere."

The biennale is hosted across various venues, including national pavilions, churches, and historically significant sites. This diversity allows countries to showcase their most important artists, creating a rich tapestry of global contemporary art. The event is not limited to visual arts but also includes significant cultural events featuring prominent artists from various disciplines.

For artists, the biennale offers an unparalleled opportunity to gain international exposure. For visitors, it provides a festive celebration of the arts, accessible to everyone regardless of their background in art. Attendees can experience a wide array of artistic expressions, including painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, installation and performance art, video, and film. Each venue offers a unique and significant experience, making the biennale a must-see event for anyone passionate about the arts.

One artist whose works grace Venice during this year’s biennale is Los Angeles-based post-post-modernist painter Shane Guffogg. In 2012, he had a retrospective at Pianta Villa Donato in Naples, Italy, and often travels to Murano, Italy, to work on his glass sculptures. Additionally, he has created a significant series of works on paper titled "Lumen Lapus," based on Venice’s light and water.

In 2015 and 2017, Guffogg’s exhibition "The Observer is the Observed," featuring 71 paintings and 3 Murano glass sculptures, toured The Imperial Museum of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Museum of the Gallery Center in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Guffogg’s paintings can be found in major public collections such as the Armand Hammer Museum of Art in Los Angeles, CA; Duke University Museum of Modern Art in NC; Fresno Art Museum in Fresno, CA; Goldman Sachs Corporation in New York, NY; Fundación/Colección Jumex in Mexico City, Mexico; Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, CA; Long Beach Museum of Art in Long Beach, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, CA; NBC Studios/SNL in New York, NY; St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, NY; The Gallery of the Museum Center in Baku, Azerbaijan; UAE Embassy in Washington, DC; Van Pelt-Dietrich Library at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA; and the Weisman Foundation in Los Angeles.

 Guffogg has a long history of artmaking. He started drawing as a child and never stopped. He maintains studios between Los Angeles and Central California. Not only is he an active painter, but he is also a lecturer and curator. During COVID, he went to care for his British father, who had immigrated from Northern England in the late 1950s. His father, a former coal miner, moved to Los Angeles, worked as a machinist, and then became a rancher in Central California. Guffogg grew up on the family’s exotic bird ranch in Central California. Sadly, during COVID, his father passed away due to health complications, following the natural death of his mother in 2016.

After his father's passing, Guffogg stayed on the family ranch, planting fruit trees, a vineyard with 350 grapevines, 80 olive trees, and a massive rose garden. He found solace in nature, tending to the soil in the early mornings and painting in his studio from noon to 7 pm daily. This routine became somewhat monastic.

Guffogg embraced the many facets of life and the ever-changing desire for existence. He navigated what it means to survive the loss of family, carrying on his family heritage as a rancher while pursuing his vocation as an artist.

Another consistent source of inspiration throughout Guffogg’s 30-year artistic career has been T.S. Eliot’s Nobel Prize-winning poem, "Four Quartets." Often found on the artist's worktable, this poem has provided ongoing inspiration as Guffogg reads and reinterprets it, creating what he calls his own wordless poems, or abstract paintings. These works explore profound questions: What does language look like before words? What does connection feel like? Guffogg seeks to understand the order within chaos, the apparent natural order of all things amidst times of flux and change, embracing an 'amor fati' approach to life. Most importantly, he contemplates the meaning of time to us as individuals, pondering what we shall witness and our purpose within the liquid vessel of existence, within the flesh of our being, in this time and now.

This year’s Biennale will be graced by American artist Shane Guffogg, who is exhibiting a new body of work that is site-specific to his venue and the theme of "Foreigners Everywhere." His solo exhibition, titled "At the Still Point of the Turning World – Strangers of Time," is presented by Patrick Carpentier and the Museum of Art and History Lancaster, and is curated by Pier Paolo Scelsi and Andi Campognone. It will be on display at the Scala Contarini del Bovolo Museum in Venice, Italy, from April 20 to November 24, 2024.

The "Still Point of the Turning World – Strangers of Time" exhibition continues to interpret T.S. Eliot’s famous text, showcasing Guffogg’s body of work consisting of 21 paintings. These paintings are not illustrations of Eliot’s poem; rather, they reflect the artist's contemplation of time, space, and identity. The exhibition’s paintings are divided into two groups, each displayed independently within the historical landmark dated 1491, the Scala Contarini del Bovolo Museum.

 The first room showcases the "Reach into the Silence" series, comprising eight omnipresent paintings, along with a massive and intriguing piece titled "Only Through Time is Time Conquered," bringing the total number of paintings in the first room to nine. Additionally, displayed on the far back wall of this room is Jacopo Tintoretto’s 1388 painting entitled "Paradise," one of six sketches for the mural at the Doge’s Palace. Notably, Guffogg’s "Only Through Time is Time Conquered" and Tintoretto’s "Paradise" share a special connection facilitated via augmented reality (AR) and the Artivive App, for which Guffogg collaborated with interdisciplinary artist Brayden Bugazzi.

The second room features the "Neither Flesh nor Fleshless" series, comprising twelve deep and contemplative works that explore fleeting and sacred moments within existence. Guffogg is known for painting the invisible, and this series captures the essence of being and receiving.

Guffogg’s selection of venue wasn't a straightforward decision; he scouted 12 historical sites to find the ideal location for displaying his work. The Scala Contarini del Bovolo site was discovered last April. After finalizing a contract to secure the location, Guffogg returned to his Central California ranch to commence preparations for his exhibition. The paintings would need to be site-specific, reflecting both the biennale’s theme, Guffogg’s own experience with T.S Eliot’s poem and the enchanting city of Venice.

The decision to settle on Scala Contarini del Bovolo was not arbitrary; it resonated deeply with Guffogg. There was an inherent significance he felt onsite, both within his own being and in the historical context of the museum. The "Bovolo" museum was initially conceived in 1491. The balustrades and spiral, snail-like staircases were added in the 15th century to two existing buildings. Situated within the San Marco district, not far from the Grande Canal, the location provided a perfect backdrop.

Climbing to the top of the staircase, albeit a journey of many steps, rewards visitors with breathtaking views over the city center. However, what about the exhibition itself? How did it aim to encapsulate Eliot’s influential stanzas?

Shane Guffogg is an artist who paints his own visual language, a language composed of various elements that surpass typical symbolic references. His paintings consist of lines and shapes that go beyond logic, appealing directly to the emotional aspects of our psyche. His work transcends the limitations of spoken languages, which is why it resonates with people from different cultures and languages that Guffogg himself may not have a direct connection to.

Guffogg’s paintings do not convey explicit messages; instead, they evoke emotional responses. They encourage viewers to pause, be present, listen, and experience the world, fostering a sense of unity with the universe. His art tells us that, in the moment of viewing, everything is okay. This is what great art is meant to do: transcend logic and reach a place of transformation and transcendence. Often, new viewers are so moved by his work that they stop in their tracks and may even begin to cry. There is a depth in his work that seems to come from a place beyond conscious planning, with Guffogg acting as a conduit, diving deep into his creative process, and sharing his discoveries for others to experience.

Guffogg works alone and often in silence, though he occasionally listens to Classical Indian Raga music or classical ‘New Music.’ This contemplative approach is why his work is so fitting for the Bovolo museum, where the museum’s winding staircase acts as a transition, preparing visitors to enter the two-rooms and experience something profound.

Once inside, viewers encounter the first group of paintings the "Reach into the Silence" series and Only Through Time is Time Conquered.” Guffogg explained:

“The first room is about spirit. The second room is about the physicality of life, hence the “Neither Flesh nor Fleshless.” I explore that idea differently again; the old masters are feeding into me my own art history of art practices feeding into everything. Then I started really working into these lines, these veils began to overlap, and it gave me direction to, - take it to this new direction with it and let’s see what happens. And suddenly there’s these crossing momenta that keep happening. Andi it reminded me, what came to my mind was cubism, early cubism, and how it was about the flattening out of time and space, and we’re seeing something from multiple perspectives simultaneously. And that, started looking a these as almost an extension of cubism, a new way to think about cubism, a new way to think about time and space.

From the physical vantage of the five senses that we have. They’re coming along and it’s a journey. I started at the end of March. I got back [from Venice] I immediately figured out what the show needed to be, what I wanted to do with it and how many paintings were going to be needed.”

And so, the artist did, drawing inspiration from the old masters. He is a magician of sorts, turning straw into gold like an alchemist reaching into the spirit world to gain insight and share what is needed to heal humanity. This simple and humble process of opening one’s heart to see and experience emotion parallels the works of great painters like Monet and Van Gogh, where color and radiance create illusions that open doors to new ways of comprehending beauty and transformation.

Guffogg, influenced by the old masters, employs many layers of paint, often as many as 100, revealing great depth and illumination within the picture plane. The series titled "Reach into the Silence" draws from Eliot’s passage about stillness:

“Words move, music moves

Only in time; but that which is only living

Can only die. Words, after speech, reach

 Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern,

Can words or music reach...”

Unlike Monet, who painted his garden at Giverny, Guffogg captures abstract moments inspired by the land and crops surrounding his studio in rural Central California. He isn’t painting his rose garden; instead, he paints the intangible—the moments seen and felt. These paintings have a sound that is impossible to hear, but their motion and harmony resonate within us. Guffogg, who not only works within the studio daily but also works the land, has come to understand it deeply and has a special relationship with the elements. He watches the sky, understands when a storm may hit, and feels the cold air come and the summer heat around the corner. He hones in and consciously observes his environment, and has become accustomed to life and matter, whether it be cars, animals, flora, or fauna.

"Reach into the Silence" seems to encapsulate a deep exploration into the realms beyond mere auditory silence, perhaps delving into the metaphysical, psychological, and existential aspects of silence. Guffogg's series, comprised of eight large paintings, appears to be an attempt to visually convey and interpret this profound concept.

Each painting, akin to a stanza in poetry or a note in a musical composition, contributes to the overall symphony of meaning. Just as a Gregorian chant consists of individual voices harmonizing to create a transcendent experience, each panel in Guffogg's series likely contributes its own unique perspective or expression to the overarching theme of reaching into silence.

This exploration into silence could entail various dimensions, such as sensory experiences, psychological introspection, or philosophical contemplation. By immersing oneself in these paintings collectively, viewers may undergo an auditory-like journey into the depths of silence, where meaning transcends verbal communication and enters the realm of the ineffable.

"Neither Flesh nor Fleshless" series seems to immerse viewers in an experience that transcends the material world, drawing inspiration from the timeless beauty and spiritual essence of Venice. The color palette, reminiscent of Venetian hues, serves as a visual conduit to evoke a sense of connection to the city's history, culture, and mystical aura.

The paintings in this series appear to emanate from a realm that transcends conventional notions of existence, blending elements of being and non-being. Words such as "sacred," "union," and "divine" suggest a profound spiritual underpinning, hinting at a belief in a higher power or universal consciousness.

The imagery evokes a sense of rootedness and wisdom, perhaps symbolizing a deep connection to ancient traditions and universal truths. Themes of protection and interconnectedness through time emphasize the idea that all beings are part of a larger, timeless tapestry of existence.

The series invites viewers to contemplate the paradoxical nature of existence—that to truly find oneself, one must first embrace a state of profound disorientation or loss. This sentiment is underscored by the significance of Guffogg's monumental work, "Only Through Time is Time Conquered," which suggests that true understanding and enlightenment can only be attained through the passage and experience of time itself.

Visiting Venice is indeed a sensory feast, where one can immerse oneself in the city's rich history, architecture, soundscape, and culinary traditions. The presence of water, both as a dominant element and a symbol of the city's essence, adds an extra layer of enchantment to the experience.

During a biennale year, Venice becomes even more vibrant, offering a deep dive into the multifaceted aspects of human existence through art. The city, which has nurtured countless great masters and houses renowned museums, becomes the stage for a global conversation on contemporary art, akin to an artistic Olympics.

Against this backdrop, Shane Guffogg's exhibition, "At the Still Point of the Turning World – Strangers of Time," takes on a profound significance. Set within a historical landmark with its spiral staircase leading into the exhibition space,

Guffogg's art presents a rare chance to ponder the human condition and the relentless march of time. By immersing themselves in his creations, viewers are prompted to ponder the intricate web of connections that bind all things together and to acknowledge the tangible evidence of our collective existence. It extends an invitation not only to delve into the depths of individual identity but also to seek connection—both with the art itself and with fellow spectators—within the broader tapestry of human experience.

As Guffogg’s artistic journey unfolds in Venice, it becomes clear that his work is not bound by the constraints of the physical world. Instead, it is a celebration of the infinite possibilities of creation, a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit to transcend the limitations of our earthly existence.

In the end, Guffogg’s art serves as a reminder that we are all connected, not only to each other but to the vast cosmos that surrounds us. Through his paintings, he invites us to explore the boundless depths of our imagination and to embrace the beauty of our shared humanity. In Venice, where time stands still and dreams take flight, Shane Guffogg’s artistic journey continues, a beacon of light in an ever-changing world.