By Genie Davis
Opening April 12 at the Manhattan Beach Art Center, Los Angeles-based artist Shane Guffogg’s “Dance of Thought” offers thought-provoking art in the South Bay. Presented by local arts patron Homeira Goldstein and her organization Time4Art, the exhibition features oil paintings, pastels and glass sculptures by the internationally renowned artist.
Goldstein was drawn to exhibiting Guffogg after listening to him speak and reading his writing concerning his art. “I was mainly taken by his never-ending, mysterious, ribbon-like lines examining light, and time and space, reminding me of Sufi Whirling Dervishes dance,” said Goldstein.
She also found his work provided an “archetypal link” that reflected what Goldstein calls “the dance within—between chaos and order, as well as the profound colors.”
Time4Art offered the perfect way for Goldstein to present an exhibition. The nonprofit Manhattan Beach organization, formerly known as Arts Manhattan, was established by Goldstein with a mission of bringing art to the South Bay and throughout the LA area.
The nonprofit has presented all ranges of art events, from museum exhibitions to art soirees to music and dance concerts, according to Goldstein.
Describing the upcoming exhibition as “intellectual, sophisticated, spiritual, deeply moving,” Goldstein says she hopes attendees will “look at the work with a critical eye and learn more about art with a sense of aesthetic and history.”
Guffogg, at one time a studio assistant to Ed Ruscha, has based his work on a personal exploration, realizing that painting is one of the few art forms that can express what language itself may not be able to impart. According to the artist, his work contains its own language of both sign and symbol.
Guffogg works in oil on both canvas and paper, as well as in watercolor, gouache, and pastel on paper, and in zinc plate etchings. Some works are intimately sized, while others are vast in scale. The images refer to areas such as Quantum Physics, Super String Theory and human emotion. In terms of color, his vivid oil work features multiple layers of translucent color mixed with glazing medium, creating the effect of an inward glow. Overall, his works present an abstract fusion of color and movement.
Goldstein envisioned the exhibition to explore the diverse elements in Guffogg’s art, such as light, time and space.
The artist himself notes “When I stand in front of these paintings, they shimmer and breathe … I started painting as a realist, but found the reality of paint being applied to canvas via a brush was more interesting than trying to make something look like something else … This painted reality is ultimately a series of questions that makes the understanding of the answer plausible.”
Along with the Manhattan Beach exhibition, Guffogg’s works have been recently shown at the Gallery of the Museum Center, Baku, Azerbaijan, and will be on a global tour traveling to the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia and at the Palais de Tokyo Museum, Paris, France. Locally, he has works at The Hammer Museum in Westwood, the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, and the Long Beach Art Museum.
“Dance of Thought” will be on exhibit at the Manhattan Beach Arts Center from April 12 to June 11.
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SHANE GUFFOGG 