by GJ Gillespie Mixed media collage on canvas 24 × 18″ 2018 $495
Title after the 1991 Nirvana song written by Kurt Cobain.
About the work
Inspired by ancient Greek Kouros statues — those archaic standing heroes with their distinctive frontal pose and enigmatic smiles — this figurative collage channels timeless vulnerability through a mid-century abstract expressionist lens. Three figures emerge from a layered ground of found papers, tissue, and acrylic paint, their forms built from the debris of contemporary life yet carrying the stillness of ancient marble.
The Kouros figure appears throughout Gillespie's Ancient Echoes series as a recurring symbol — the classical hero caught between the human and the divine, between the known world and whatever lies beyond it. The Nirvana song title arrives as a modern echo of the same theme: Kurt Cobain's melancholic sense of something always standing in the way, some gap that cannot be crossed. The marble heroes and the Aberdeen dropout are further apart than they look.
Exhibition History
- Northwest Collage Society Winter Exhibit, Seattle Convention Center, January 12 – March 31, 2019
- Langley BC Canada Arts Council, Choose Authentic, April 12 – May 24, 2023
- Molbak's Sip and Stroll Art Show, Woodinville, WA, October 20–22, 2023
- Modern Myth Making, City of Burien Gallery Program at Merrill Gardens, June 5 – September 24, 2026
Publication
- Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, 10th Annual Figurative Competition, March 2020
- Letters Literary Journal, Issue 11, Winter 2023
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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