TEL: 415.441.8680
TEL: 415.441.8680
REALISTS
GUY DIEHL
Contents Copyright © 2003-2011
BEST ART GALLERY
Sheet Metal Snips #2,
1985, acrylic on canvas,
14” x 11”
Like many artists, Guy Diehl’s foray into the world of self-expression was met with criticism rather than acclaim. As a second grader at St. Mary’s Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was sent to The Mother Superior for drawing while he was supposed to be reading. This negative experience might have effected him more deeply were it not for the happenstance that while being led to the office, he was taken through a hall where large oil paintings of a religious nature were hung. He was so affected by their realism that he vowed, then and there, to learn to paint.
In 1974 he began work on his Masters Degree in Art at San Francisco State University. He studied with photo realist artists Richard Mclean and Robert Bechtle. He graduated with honors in 1976. In 1984, Guy began to study the Bay Area painter Gordon Cook and his exquisite, minimal still life paintings. With Gordon’s influence, Guy began painting smaller, more intimate works, which he could execute in a shorter period of time. This new found freedom allowed him to move away from the strict Photo Realism style of painting to a more flexible interpretation of what he was seeing. He began to incorporate other elements of study such as literature, music and politics and his interest in the role of the artist in society.
Beginning in 1992, Guy began to focus on the book as his primary subject matter, with references to Cubism; German Expressionism; the music of Jazz; Abstract Expressionism; and the artists of the early Modernism period from 1900 to the 1950s. His aim is to first capture the viewer’s attention with the objects themselves, then encourage the viewer’s further reflection on the work and its narrative.
Guy Diehl sees himself as an interpreter, who is making a record of his observations. These observations are intuitive, as well as responsive to images that are composed of light and shadow, as well as color, shape and form. The satisfaction with his work comes when he can make a painting as minimal as possible and still capture the fundamental nature of the subject matter. To know what to paint and what to exclude is the challenge. This distillation helps reveal the essence of a painting for him.
Guy’s current work comes from a desire to pursue and explore the legacy of still life painting. He does this through the study of art history and the physical process of painting. The classical aspect of composition and the tradition of still life, infused with his own perspective, is his primary goal. Guy’s ideas of art-about-art have become the focus of his work. It is not a new concept as artists have been borrowing from other artists throughout history. By referencing artists’ images with books and their titles they are employed to comment on or link to the objects within the painting. He makes this juxtaposition to place the familiar in a different context, combining diverse ideas to create unexpected compositions. As Guy continues this exploration, he’s challenged to take his work further both in content and subject matter. Guy sees the refinement and depth that he wants from his work grow and evolve as he moves closer to what is most important to him; to make a worthy painting that connects him with the world both past and present.
BORN 1949 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
EDUCATION
1976 M.A. San Francisco State University, CA
1973 B.A. California State University Hayward, CA
1970 Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA
GALLERY AFFILIATIONS
Dolby Chadwick Gallery, 210 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94108
Magnolia Editions, 2527 Magnolia St., Oakland, CA 94607
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 Hunsaker/Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2003 Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001 Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 Modernism, San Francisco, CA
1995 Fletcher Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1994 Modernism, San Francisco, CA
1993 Modernism, San Francisco, CA
1990 Jeremy Stone Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1989 University of Pacific, Stockton, CA
1988 Jeremy Stone Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Magic Theater, Fort Mason Art Center, San Francisco, CA
1987 Hunsaker/Schlesinger Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1986 Jeremy Stone Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Lurie Company, San Francisco, CA
1984 Hank Baum Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1982 Hank Baum Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1981 Shepard Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno, NV
1980 Hank Baum Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1979 Shasta College, Redding, CA
Hank Baum Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1976 Los Medanos College, Pittsburg, CA
1975 San Francisco State University, CA
1971 Concord Center for the Arts, Concord, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 The Realists, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 A Winter Quartet, Sullivan Goss an American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss an American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2009 Summer Exhibition - Landscape, Portraits, Still Lifes, and Sculpture,
George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Translations, Susan Street Fine Art Gallery, Solana Beach, CA
2008 Contemporary Still Life, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
2007 Contemporary Selections, Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Art of Food, K Gallery, Alameda, CA
2006 Magnolia Editions - Woven Transcriptions, The Belgium Tapestries Designed by
Contemporary Artists, Fresno Art Museum, CA
Tapestries, Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Tapestries, Sullivan Gross, Santa Barbara & Montecito, CA
Top of the 9th: The Art of Baseball, George Krevsky Galley, San Francisco, CA
2005 Sonoma Valley Museum of Art 2005 Biennial, Sonoma, CA
Majestic Tapestries Of Magnolia Editions, Bedford Gallery, Dean Lesher Regional Center
for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA
Tapestries by Contemporary Artists, The Judson Gallery of Contemporary and Traditional
Art, Los Angeles, CA
More Than a Game: The Art of Baseball, George Krevsky Galley, San Francisco, CA
California New Old Masters, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA
Looking Back and Seeing Forward, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
AWARDS
2005 Biennial Exhibition Award, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
1994 Marin Arts Council’s Individual Artists Grant, San Rafael, CA
1972 Alameda County Art Commission, Purchase Award, Fremont, CA
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Alameda County Administration Building, Oakland, CA
Bank of America, San Francisco, CA
Barnes & Noble Bookstores, Inc., New York, NY
Caldwell Banker, West Palm Beach, FL
City of Phoenix, Arts Commission, Phoenix, AZ
Clark County Library, Las Vegas, NV
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
Hallmark Card Inc., Kansas City, MO
Kaiser Permanente of California
The Mansion at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
One & Only Ocean Club, Paradise Island, Bahamas
Peninsula Hotel, New York City
Princess Cruise Lines, Santa Clarita, CA
Princeton University, Princeton , NJ
Redding Museum, Redding , CA
Redwood City Library, Redwood City, CA
Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC
Robinson’s Escondido, CA
San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Social Security Administration, Baltimore, MD
Southern California Gas Co.
Art Bank Program, United States Department of State, Washington, DC
The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, NJ
Walnut Creek Public Library, Walnut Creek, CA
FILM PLACEMENT:
2006 Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale (32:52 min.)
1994 Nina Takes A Lover
GUESTS ARTISTS