 |
Sullivan Goss
AN AMERICAN GALLERY
|
Celebrating 27 Years of 19th, 20th and 21st Century American Art |
 
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Guy Diehl is a leading artist working in the Realist tradition. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Diehl was trained by Pop artist Mel Ramos and Photorealists Robert Bechtle and Richard McLean. Through skillful arrangements of form and careful observations of his subjects, Guy Diehl creates still lifes that carry on the genre’s rich tradition in conveying allegories and inducing moments of quiet introspection. |
Table Of Contents |
I. BiographyGuy Diehl was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1949. He was drawn to art an early age. While attending church with his family, he admired the realistic quality of two oil paintings hung on either side of the altarpiece. He started drawing shortly after that awakening experience. Diehl further recalls that after being caught drawing during class at St. Mary’s Elementary School in Pittsburgh that another life altering experience occurred. On his way to the Mother Superior to receive his punishment, he was struck by the realism of the large oil paintings that lined the hall of his school. Overcome by their beauty, he has stated that this moment was when he committed his life to becoming a painter. At the age of eleven, he moved with his family to the San Francisco Bay area. He completed his early studies at Diablo Valley College, and later, studied with Pop artist Mel Ramos at California State University, Hayward. There, he was influenced by Ramos’ teachings on making "art about art." He was also exposed to Bay Area painter Wayne Thiebaud’s work. While studying toward his MFA at San Francisco State University, he worked with Photorealists Robert Bechtle and Richard McLean. During the 1980s, he studied Bay Area artist Gordon Cook’s still life paintings and began to paint in a slightly looser style than the Photorealists. In 1992, he found his current subject matter—the book. Diehl’s carefully arranged still life paintings contain a themed book or monograph (e.g. Cubism, Expressionism, jazz, Abstract Expressionism, twentieth century Modernism) and then are topped with various objects pertaining to the subject matter. While distilling the essence of the book, Diehl furthers the legacy of realist still life painting. In addition to his paintings, Diehl has held a long-standing interest in printmaking. During the 1970s, he worked with artist Don Farnsworth at Editions Press in San Francisco. They later completed their first collaboration in the 1980s with the printing of Diehl’s color lithograph Open Book (1988) at Magnolia Editions. Diehl has stated on this experience, “With spending so much time sequestered in my studio painting, I found working at Magnolia over the years was a great opportunity to meet artists that I would not have otherwise […] I think that meeting one’s peers is important for anyone who collects or creates art.” Diehl has completed several private commissions across the country, and his work is widely collected by public institutions such as the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He currently lives and works in Marin County, California with his family. |
II. An Analysis of the Artist's WorkSince the 1980s, Guy Diehl has chosen the book as his primary subject matter. His mastery of the acrylic medium has allowed him to create luminous paintings that evoke his reverence for figures and movements important to his journey as an artist. His still lifes originate from his belief to create “art about art.” He has stated, “My work is about paying homage to the individuals that mean so much to me as an artist: Cezanne, Modigliani, Picasso, all of the early Modernists.” By choosing important figures from art history as subject material for his own paintings, Diehl is able to comment on the legacy of these artists, while providing the viewer with opportunities for their own contemplation. Diehl’s process in creating his paintings begins with photography. In his studio, he maneuvers lighting conditions and the arrangement of his still life. He then uses photographs of the still life as the reference image for his painting in acrylic. His use of the acrylic medium provides an exquisite rendering of the texture of the depicted objects. His “books” appear to be in mint condition, ready to be sifted through by the viewer. The dark, neutral background that his arrangements are usually placed against further adds to the trompe l’oeil characteristic of his work. While Diehl was trained in the meticulous style of the Photorealists, he has often stated that he aims for simplification in his work. “I ask myself what is the pure essence of the surface, and I try to paint it.” Diehl’s theory on simplification also transfers to his process of deciding what objects to include in his arrangements. In several of his paintings on singular artists, he often paints “postcards” of iconic works by these artists or objects they have come to be associated with atop their matching “books.” While some of Diehl’s arrangements are more easily understood, others contain the artist’s own post-modernist commentary. Diehl often creates “fictitious” books in many of his arrangements in order to convey the essential idea of his painting. Diehl has been working primarily as a painter of still lifes for the past thirty years. While much of his subject matter draws from art movements of the past, his work is not merely a homage. Through his strict formalism and desire to convey the essence of his subject matter, Diehl provides a link between the Realist tradition of centuries past and the art world of today. |
III. Education |
IV. EXHIBITIONS |
V. Collections |
VI. Bibliography
|
VII. Works For Sale By This Artist |