by GJ Gillespie. Mixed media collage on board 38 × 26″ 2026 $1,500
Title after the 1968 Pink Floyd song written by Roger Waters — one of the band's most hypnotic and enduring compositions, performed live for years including at the ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii.
About the work
This large abstract collage operates in the space between map, stained glass window, and sacred geography. The composition divides into three horizontal zones — a burning orange undercoat that reads as fire, earth, or desert terrain; a dense cellular middle field of layered collage squares in blue, white, and gray; and an upper register that dissolves into lighter, more atmospheric material. The structure is repetitive and ritualistic, like a musical phrase that cycles without resolving.
Two influences converge here that rarely share the same conversation. The first is Aboriginal Australian Dreamtime mapping — sacred geographical art that renders landscape as spiritual territory, charting not just where things are but what they mean. The second is medieval stained glass — the way light passes through segmented color fields to create something luminous and whole from hundreds of separate pieces.
The Pink Floyd title arrived because the song shares the same DNA as the piece. Written by Roger Waters and drawing on ancient Chinese poetry and science fiction simultaneously, it describes a journey toward something that cannot be reached — structured, relentless, and ultimately mysterious. Pink Floyd famously performed it in the ruins of a Roman amphitheater. The piece was made to be looked at the way that performance was meant to be heard: slowly, in a large space, with time to let the layers reveal themselves.
Built from found papers, tissue, acrylic, spray paint, graphite, and grocery advertisements on board.
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
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| 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.
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| GJ Gillespie Studio |
Gillespie Home overlooking Oak Harbor
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