Sunday, January 10, 2021

Collaged Abstractions

Self Portrait GJ Gillespie 



"The artists that I admire tap feelings of awe that permit the viewer to experience new perspectives of being."
-- GJ Gillespie
N O W  S H O W I N G + N E W S 



She's Not There by GJ Gillespie.  SOLD
Ryan James chose four works by GJ Gillespie for the Kirkland gallery's Subscription Program. Individuals or businesses may rent or purchase the art from the gallery. 





Never Comes the Day

"Never Comes the Day" will appear in The Tempered Ruin Press quarterly Bluing
the Blade --Volume 1, Number 1 -- December 2020.

RECENTLY
Art by GJ Gillespie has been accepted to appear in a literary magazine, The Abstract Elephant Magazine, two Blue Girl Gallery online shows and a in person show at the Pacific Regent Residence in Bellevue, WA. 




First Place Kaw Kaw
by GJ Gillespie 


AWARDS for Blue Girl Gallery Shows
First Place for Kaw Kaw
Honorable Mention for Life Cycle MORE















I Will Survive

Pacific Regent Show 
Bellevue WA 
Three collages in this condo art show.
I Will Survive (right), Everyone's Gone to the Moon
and I'll Never Find Another You. 
Starts November 5, 2020.
MORE 











Choose Authentic by GJ Gillespie


Thought Art Magazine
3 GJ Gillespie pieces selected for current issue.

MORE















Forever Young by GJ Gillespie.

ART AWARD
GJ Gillespie wins Honorable Mention in the Art Room Gallery online show for my collage "Forever Young".

MORE about the art
















Old Timer by GJ Gillespie
FOREST BATHING WITH LEDA
Get Lost Sketching in the Woods by GJ Gillespie

WHOEVER SAID "stop and smell the roses" would appreciate the health craze called Forest Bathing.

MORE









Gillespie Wins Award at Mercer Island Show. MORE  
Invisible Men by GJ Gillespie. 


MIdnight Confessions by GJ Gillespie.
Collage. 21 x 11.5. 2019. SOLD



Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying by GJ Gillespie
Collage on canvas. 15 x 30 inches. 2018
Gillespie Wins Award at
Northwest Collage Society Show.
Rosehill Community Center in Mukilteo
April 5 to June 30, 2018
MORE







A World of Our Own
by GJ Gillespie
80 x 30. 
SOLD
SIX SHOWS IN AUGUST 2017
In August 2017 Gillespie's art appeared in six shows in four cities, including Kirkland, Seattle, Bellevue and Roslyn. MORE



Horse with No Name by GJ Gillespie.
SOLD MORE
















"SMOKE ON THE WATER" SOLD
Smoke on the Water by GJ Gillespie. SOLD
The day before the end of the 2017 Northwest Collage Society Winter Show one of two Gillespie pieces sold.

"It is a highest honor for an artist to see his artwork not only accepted into a public show but to sell," said Gillespie from his studio in Kirkland.

The other work entitled "Horse Latitudes" received one of five awards in the show of 55 works by local collage artists.

ORDER YOUR OWN COPY of Smoke on the Water  mailed directly to your home

Gillespie featured artist November, 2016 in
Thought Notebook. 


Cover of Thought Notebook
Two pieces featured in June, 2016 issue Journal Thought Notebook. Also MORE



Honors

Desperado by GJ Gillespie.
Collage. 22 x 17. 2019.
The GJ Gillespie collage "Circe's House" won a Special Merit Award in the Light Space and Time City Scape online competition. The collage was among 80 pieces selected out of 478 entries.

In addition, a second city scape abstract work entitled "Desolation Row" earned a Special Recognition Award. Youtube slide show of winning art. MORE 


MERIT AWARD 
GJ Gillespie's piece "Forever Young" was among 80 selected out of 760 entries for the Light Space and Time “Abstracts” 2015 Art Exhibition. See the work at 2:30 minutes into the video of winning art.  The Light Space Time gallery received 760 entries from 23 different countries from around the world. "Forever Young" was also invited for the Fiber Fusion Show September - April, 2016.


Inspired by an Ancient Love Story
Gillespie's Sketchbook Company     

 In 2015 Gary Gillespie founded his own private label art supply company selling premium sketchbooks on Amazon.
Now 100,000 books later, the premium art journal company ranks among the top 2 percent of Amazon.com retailers with 500 five star reviews.
Sold throughout North America, Europe and Japan. 







National Award Winner 
Mid American Review Art Contest


A piece by GJ Gillespie appeared in the 2015 May-June issue of the literary journal the Mid American Review (MAR). 

Of the three GJ Gillespie submissions the judge for the contest chose "Life Cycle" to accompany a story about a young farming couple dealing with the death of a child.   
MORE  here. 




 Forget All Your Troubles, Forget All Your Cares
by GJ Gillespie. SOLD


"Forget All Your Troubles" SOLD
Congratulations to a GJ Gillespie fan in Shelton for purchasing this collage inspired by people walking in the city. 

"Kingdom Within" Honorable Mention in Mind Magazine's Imagination art contest.

Mind Magazine posts "Horse with No Name".

____________________________________________________________________

Something in the Way by GJ Gillespie
“Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind” 
Magdalena Abakanowicz
__________________________________________________
About GJ Gillespie 
The cultural and natural world of the American northwest inspires my art. Living near Seattle and Redmond, Washington State exposes me to the creative trends of the world's most innovative minds. 

My art is a response to this rich social and spiritual environment.

The abstract expressionist masters who produced haunting images from this region are constant inspirations.

Sketching at the Getty Malibu in Los Angele

 The ethnographic designs of northwest native peoples, cave painting, Greek myths and statues and cryptic letters figure into my art.  

The artists I admire tap unconscious feelings of longing for existential meaning that emerge from cultural icons. In my view, abstraction should be more than pleasing design. Instead, art should evoke connotations that permit the viewer to experience a sense of wonder, awe and new perspectives of being.

While the forests, mountains, waterways and damp skies of the northwest inspire me, I am moved to create by the contemplation of beauty where ever I find it. 

I enjoy experimenting with various media such as watercolor, collage, encaustic and mixed media on paper, canvas and board. I find that the translucent effect of layering watercolor adds depth and metaphorical meaning. 

IDEAS for an abstract piece might appear in a dream. Inspiration also come by studying the works of the masters. Alfonso Ossorio, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hoffman and Lee Krasner influence me.

Following an atemporal style, I sometimes copy the works of old master painters, giving my own take by making them into collages. 
Kurt Cobain by GJ Gillespie

In July 2014 I created a collage based on a 1640 painting by old master Jacob Jordaen of the myth of Prometheus. In the myth the gods severely punish Prometheus for giving fire to humans. Like the struggle of innovators trying to improve the human condition today, the story of Prometheus celebrates those who dare to defy convention. 

Between periods of art making I run an international art supply company that sells my own brand of sketchbooks on Amazon in seven countries.  Leda Arts Supply.

In July, 2017 Gillespie was invited to take part in the Ryan James Gallery Subscription Program. 

PRICING

GIFT for YOU 
Purchase a GJ Gillespie original artwork and receive a complimentary Leda Art Supply sketchbook as our gift to you. Contact here.

“All that we see is vision, by generated organs gone as soon as come, permanent in the imagination.” -- William Blake
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Man Disguised as Spirit by GJ Gillespie
Shown at the Bellevue Arts Museum
Order canvas print here. 
"To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams."
-- Giorgio de Chirico





The Child's Bath after Mary Cassatt
by GJ Gillespie
Past Shows

  • Bellevue, Pacific Regent Show
    Bellevue WA     Two pieces in this condo art show.
    No reception because of Covid. Starts June 15.
    MORE
  • Kirkland, Art Class with Miha Sirani Mixed Media Creation at Kirkland Art Center.
  • Kirkland, Quantum Paint: a solo show by artist Crystal Edwards and curated by GJ Gillespie. 
    MORE 
  • Kirkland, 21 Century Women Show. Kirkland Art Center, June 20 -- Oct. 16, 2019. "The Way You Look Tonight" at the KAC.
  • Kirkland, Desperado Show, 5 abstract collages by GJ Gillespie at Hurst Gallery in Kirkland. August 20 -- October 10, 2019. More.
  • Kirkland, Surface Design In Full Swing Show, Hurst Gallery in Kirkland. May 30 to August 17, 2019. 
  • Kirkland, BEST OF KIRKLAND ART CENTER SHOW, May 11 -- June 16. "Shelter from the Storm." More. 
  • April Envision Arts Magazine, "Something in the Way" a mixed media collage on canvas by GJ Gillespie is featured as a pairing with a poem in the literary and art online magazine. See the poem and collage here.
  • Seattle, Northwest Collage Society Winter Exhibit at Washington State Convention Center. January 12 to March 30, 2019. MORE
  • Kirkland, Earth Angel Show, Hurst Gallery, December 8 to March 23, 2019  MORE   
  • Kirkland. Tangled Up in Blue: Solo Works of GJ Gillespie, Hurst Library, Northwest University, Kirkland, WA. Enjoy ten collages by the professor and artist from April 23 to July 14, 2015. See works here.  Directions.
  • Kirkland. Riddle: Collages of GJ Gillespie. 8 Works by GJ Gillespie at the Northwest University Hurst Library, Kirkland, WA September 14 to December 10, 2014. 
  • Kirkland. Parklane Gallery Show. Four works by GJ Gillespie were shown at the Parklane Gallery in Kirkland From September to November 2, 2014.  Parklane Gallery 130 Park Ln, Kirkland, WA 98033
  • Kirkland. Two works sold at Event to Benefit Syrian Refugees on Nov. 21. Students at Northwest University raised funds for victims of religious persecution in Syria which featured some works by GJ Gillespie. One of the pieces sold, Threshold #3, was recently shown at the Parklane Gallery Show (below). The other work sold was a 10 x 8 inch orange and blue abstract entitled Legacy. 
Shelter From the Storm by GJ Gillespie
  • Gillespie CENSORED! 
"Punishment of Prometheus", a collage by GJ Gillespie -- although accepted by the Northwest Collage Society for a show in Mukilteo -- was rejected by Mukilteo officials who felt it is offensive. The city refused that it be on the walls of the Rosehill Community Center. See it here. 
  • Kirkland. Works of GJ Gillespie.       
    11 paintings by GJ Gillespie on display at the Northwest University Hurst Library in Kirkland,     WA. June 2 to September 8. Free. 
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