Gail Wegodsky
United States
Gail Wegodsky was told in grad school that her excellent representation of light was the reason they wanted her. Four decades later light is the structural web in her paintings still.
She allowed chance to present subjects - a reflection of winter trees in a puddle, or the undulations of shutters seen through glass elephant figurines. The longing created by those serendipitous everyday vignettes was the spark, and she primarily worked from life. Painting was a practice of creating a surprising composition of that situation with additions remembered or imagined, to inspire a similar longing in the viewer.
Remarkable light situations lure her to the easel but the prosaic needs of the painting supersede. It's like lust - drawn by the initial excitement what may continue is a responsibility one needs to mold with patience so that the finished children, or paintings, will contribute to humanity after the parent is gone. The Dutch Masters may be dead but their work still arouses awe because of the artist's truthful depiction of light across a girl's face, or a cathedral's interior at midday. Wegodsky's patience to employ a meticulous painting technique and close observation enhances her work.
Wegodsky's work is now photo-informed, oil paint. She paints images of far flung places - the internet has opened up a world of subjects. She has been painting books and libraries the past few years because in an age when truth seems so elastic it can be stretched to include any belief no matter how magical, libraries are quiet sanctuaries guarding humanity's shared wisdom and logic - and the visual abundance of zillions of multicolored books gives the eyes a thrill.
Wegodsky was born in Charlotte, NC in 1955. She earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore and MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1982. Her awards include a Grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts and inclusion in the National Academy of Design's 171st Exhibition. She has been a Winner of Open Studios' Magazine's New American Paintings Competition as well as a Finalist in Artist's Magazine's Annual Competition 10 different years. That publication chose her as Artist of the Month with a Competition Spotlight Article. She has been awarded a Medal of Honor and Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal for Oil by the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club and Best in Show by the Salmagundi Club. Wegodsky's work can be found in public collections nationwide, including The Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, LaGrange, GA; Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; The Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Evansville, IN; Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia, PA; Southern Connecticut State Univ., New Haven, CT; and the Law Offices of King and Spalding, Atlanta.
She has had solo shows at the LaGrange Art Museum, GA, Oglethorpe University Museum, Atlanta, and The Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC.
Gail lives and works in Atlanta.
* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 16th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.
