Where the Sky Meets the Sea: Jennifer Guidi Looks at Beauty
The artist's new exhibition at the David Kordansky gallery reveals his spiritual sensitivity and inspires the pleasures of the gaze.
LOS ANGELES - In a time of global turmoil - inflation, political division, overseas military conflict - Jennifer Guidi's work may at first glance seem utopian, Pollyannaish, just plain pretty.< /p>
And Guidi does not hesitate to draw inspiration from suns, moons, flowers, birds and rainbows. She also makes no apologies for liking the color pink.
But while they are pleasing to the eye, her paintings and sculptures - which will be on display Saturday at the David Kordansky gallery here - belies a depth and complexity that curators are increasingly recognizing. "It's more than it initially appears," said Heidi Zuckerman, director of the Orange County Museum, which is hosting a Guidi show next fall. “Part of it is the complexity of the underlay and what it hides beneath the surface. I think it's an interesting metaphor for women and the very essence of who we are. female artist in a field that remains male-dominated; to have her paintings taken seriously as substantial rather than decorative; and to establish a professional identity independent of that of her former husband, the better-known (and more dear) Mark Grotjahn.
"Women are so often defined by who they were with," Guidi said in a recent interview at his studio. "I don't want to be pigeonholed."
Over the past few years, Guidi, 50, has established herself as a success story in her own right. In 2018, she was hired by the mega gallery Gagosian — which also represents Grotjahn — and since 2016 has been represented by Kordansky, where her current exhibition, “Heart of the Sun,” takes up most of the gallery.
She recently closed a solo exhibition at the Long Museum in China. And his next exhibition at the Orange County Museum, which opened its new building last month, will mark its first institutional exhibition in the United States.
One of his paintings, "Elements of All Entities", sold last fall at Christie's for $625,000, more than four times the low estimate of $150,000 (his work privately sells for between $100,000 and around $500,000). Major collectors who have purchased her work include Steven A. Cohen and Maurice Marciano.
"She straddles the space between the spiritual and the hallucinatory," said David Kordansky. , owner of the gallery. "It's really these meditations on the mood and atmosphere of our West Coast surroundings - where the sky meets the sea.
"So many artists have notions of technology and fast images,” he continued, as Guidi’s paintings are...
The artist's new exhibition at the David Kordansky gallery reveals his spiritual sensitivity and inspires the pleasures of the gaze.
LOS ANGELES - In a time of global turmoil - inflation, political division, overseas military conflict - Jennifer Guidi's work may at first glance seem utopian, Pollyannaish, just plain pretty.< /p>
And Guidi does not hesitate to draw inspiration from suns, moons, flowers, birds and rainbows. She also makes no apologies for liking the color pink.
But while they are pleasing to the eye, her paintings and sculptures - which will be on display Saturday at the David Kordansky gallery here - belies a depth and complexity that curators are increasingly recognizing. "It's more than it initially appears," said Heidi Zuckerman, director of the Orange County Museum, which is hosting a Guidi show next fall. “Part of it is the complexity of the underlay and what it hides beneath the surface. I think it's an interesting metaphor for women and the very essence of who we are. female artist in a field that remains male-dominated; to have her paintings taken seriously as substantial rather than decorative; and to establish a professional identity independent of that of her former husband, the better-known (and more dear) Mark Grotjahn.
"Women are so often defined by who they were with," Guidi said in a recent interview at his studio. "I don't want to be pigeonholed."
Over the past few years, Guidi, 50, has established herself as a success story in her own right. In 2018, she was hired by the mega gallery Gagosian — which also represents Grotjahn — and since 2016 has been represented by Kordansky, where her current exhibition, “Heart of the Sun,” takes up most of the gallery.
She recently closed a solo exhibition at the Long Museum in China. And his next exhibition at the Orange County Museum, which opened its new building last month, will mark its first institutional exhibition in the United States.
One of his paintings, "Elements of All Entities", sold last fall at Christie's for $625,000, more than four times the low estimate of $150,000 (his work privately sells for between $100,000 and around $500,000). Major collectors who have purchased her work include Steven A. Cohen and Maurice Marciano.
"She straddles the space between the spiritual and the hallucinatory," said David Kordansky. , owner of the gallery. "It's really these meditations on the mood and atmosphere of our West Coast surroundings - where the sky meets the sea.
"So many artists have notions of technology and fast images,” he continued, as Guidi’s paintings are...
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