Mixed media collage on board 19 × 20″ 2026 $495
Title after the 1984 song by The Smiths
— one of the defining anthems of a generation,
built on a tremolo guitar figure that loops without resolution.
About the work
A classical Greek bust — severe style, early Classical period, close in spirit to the Kritios Boy of c. 480 BCE — emerges from a layered ground of tin foil, silver Japanese paper, spray paint, found papers, tissue, acrylic, and graphite. The teal and gold palette gives the figure the patina of aged bronze, as if he has just surfaced from centuries of burial. His eyes are wide and unsettled — not the serene idealism of later classical sculpture but something earlier and more raw, caught in the moment before the smile arrives.
The title borrows the question Morrissey asked in 1984 and the ancients asked long before him. Presence. Longing. The gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be. The Smiths song never resolves — it loops on that tremolo guitar, always arriving, never quite there. The classical face holds the same unresolved tension. Two thousand years apart and asking the same thing.
Part of the Ancient Echoes series.
Exhibition
- Modern Myth Making, City of Burien Gallery Program at Merrill Gardens, June 5 – September 24, 2026 (debut exhibition)
To purchase contact GJ Gillespie at garjog@gmail.com
 |
| GJ Gillespie Artist |
Artist Statement
My work exists outside of time. Ancient Greek heroes emerge from supermarket circulars and consumer ephemera. Egyptian pharaohs are built from crossword puzzles. Mid-century abstract figures dissolve into Pacific Northwest landscapes layered with colored tissue and found paper.
Working in mixed-media collage from a 1928 Tudor Revival farmhouse on Whidbey Island, I stand on the shoulders of giants — riffing on cultural icons from Greek mythology, Pompeii frescoes, and the mid-century masters who transformed what painting could express: Arshile Gorky, the Northwest Mystics Morris Graves, Mark Tobey, and Kenneth Callahan.
Titles of each piece are drawn from rock and pop music, connecting ancient imagery with modern soundtracks.
While the themes may seem lofty, viewers will sense a playfulness in the work. Pompeii frescoes meet grocery ads. Ancient Greek busts emerge from fast food wrappers. When it comes to making art I follow the philosophy of Thoreau: the world is but a canvas to our imagination.
Biography
GJ Gillespie (b. 1955) lives and works in a 1928 Tudor Revival farmhouse on Whidbey Island, WA. His mixed-media collage practice draws on the Northwest Mystics, mid-century abstract expressionism, Greek and Roman mythology, and song titles from rock and pop music. He has completed six residencies at the UW Whiteley Center, Friday Harbor Labs. In addition to winning 19 awards, his work has appeared in 77 exhibitions and 214 journal publications.
 |
| GJ Gillespie Studio |
Gillespie Home overlooking Oak Harbor
No comments:
Post a Comment