California artist Greg Gilbert born 1948 in Ridgecrest. My work is Contemporary Realist. Works in multi-mixed- media, oil, watercolor, acrylic, pencil, and photo emulsion. The artist uses multiple layers of colors, textures, and glazes to create a translucent, iridescent, interplay of rainbow like colors.

“I like to take, what, seems to be, common every-day objects of vintage nature and transform them  by exaggerating, color, texture, and  composition. Ordinary objects become extraordinary, radiant, Isolated and ironic  visual theatrical events.  Subject matter, normally over looked the viewer, MUST NOW, confront  its’ exposed  beauty, face on.”  

I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of halation: technically, halation is the effect which occurs subconsciously in our imperfect binocular vision, it is a field of color and light which  surrounds objects in our visual field, making them out of focus: and creates a prism effect of rainbow like colors, around reflected light on an object.

“I had an incredibly happy childhood, and I believe that is reflected in my art. “I grew up living in the majestic Mojave Desert, in the shadows of the spectacular High Sierra mountains, south of Bishop and Lone Pine, locations for many Hollywood movies in the 1950’s. I'm inspired by the vintage Hollywood  movies, poster art, comics and relics of antiquity, circa 1930’s to 1960’s . I have spent decades exploring and photographing remote ghost towns, abandoned old cars, trucks, gas pumps, and signs of Highway 395 and  route 66 near his home town.

As a graduate, of The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, I studied under, world famous instructors Lorser Feitelson, husband of Helen Lundeberg, and  rebel  art instructor Llyn Foulkes, as well as colleague Mark Tansey. These artists, along with the Pop Art movement greatly influenced  my art. “My inter happiness is directly dependent upon my creating art.  neuroscientists and researchers  have proven  that  viewing and making art has a therapeutic, medicinal  effect on people, as well as creating happy positive thoughts,  I think this, is what drives me, to keep creating art.“   

Greg Gilbert