Paul Gillis: Indivisible by Light
Edward Cella Art & Architecture is pleased to announce a solo exhibition entitled Indivisible by Light, featuring new mixed media paintings by Southern California based aritst Paul Gillis. In this new body of works, Gillis explore the junction of drawing and painting, creating an interplay of light and image.
Gillis uses both paint and graphite to create subtle yet graphic paintings. Though often figurative, his paintings speak to the geometric abstraction of shadows. Onto roughly textured and heavily woven burlap. Gillis applies thin washes of paint to create a rich ground. He then approaches his canvases with graphite, drawing hundreds and sometimes thousands of lines that crisscross his work and form the figurative elements of each piece. Drawing and painting coexist creating an interplay between the media that is both subtle and striking.
Edward Cella Art & Architecture is pleased to announce a solo exhibition entitled Indivisible by Light, featuring new mixed media paintings by Southern California based aritst Paul Gillis. In this new body of works, Gillis explore the junction of drawing and painting, creating an interplay of light and image.
Gillis uses both paint and graphite to create subtle yet graphic paintings. Though often figurative, his paintings speak to the geometric abstraction of shadows. Onto roughly textured and heavily woven burlap. Gillis applies thin washes of paint to create a rich ground. He then approaches his canvases with graphite, drawing hundreds and sometimes thousands of lines that crisscross his work and form the figurative elements of each piece. Drawing and painting coexist creating an interplay between the media that is both subtle and striking.
The interchange of painting and drawing generates a compelling interaction between two and three dimensions. There is a flatness that permeates the image, particularly at a distance, but there is life and dimension in the texture of the canvas and the quality of the lines. This visual inconsistency in both the figure and ground elements moves the works between flatness and dimensionality.
Gillis’ refined process leads the viewer through his world with uniquely created imagery that is both familiar yet elusive. His paintings oscillate between many different visual and artistic processes, the interchange of which forms works that are visually and conceptually compelling. He challenges the notion of what a painting can be by applying these divergent methods opening a new unique dialogue of expression.
Paul Gillis received his MFA from the Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Indivisible by Light is his second solo exhibition in Los Angeles. Gillis has participated in group exhibitions at JAUS in Los Angeles, the Torrance Art Museum, LACE Contemporary, the Shore Institute of Contemporary Arts in Long Beach, New Jersey, and Galerie Glas Moog in Cologne, Germany.
Special Exhibition Events:
Maura Bendett and Paul Gillis Artists Talk
Saturday, June 7 at 4pm
Please join Gallery Director Carl Berg and the artists for an informal tour of their respective exhibitions, offering insights into their work.
