Guy Lyman

Riptide, -2010
Charcoal,Oil Paint,Acrylic Paint
20 x 16 in
SOLD
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(Comes framed in a modern white frame) Artist's Statement "This series of intensely colorful paintings was begun in reaction to the oppressive weight of the social and political polarization of the past few years. I wanted to make paintings about nothing but pure delight, in honor of the fact that beneath this fog of antagonism, we still eat, laugh, love and if we're wise, acknowledge how spectacularly fortunate we are -- at least for now, in this time and place, despite our petty differences. For me, the colors, forms and brushstrokes here feel exuberant without suggesting an unnerving chaos. And despite the (intentional) dissonance between the forms and colors, they work together somewhat in the way I feel America does at our best. I think this is not a time to be making brooding works that reflect the schism we are working our way through; we all know about this. On the contrary, I think it's a time for art to lift us above it, a role it has often had, and for us to be thankful." This is part of a series that has been ongoing for several years, but the paintings up until now have all been sold privately, directly to collectors and designers, often before completion. There is no availability in the secondary (auction) market as of now. The series prior to this one show a higher degree of articulation, from which the artist has purposely departed in the new works. These paintings have been placed not only in contemporary settings, but surprisingly in rooms of fine antiques as well, creating a tension between the classic and the contemporary -- like the abstract works you sometimes see in uber-traditional dining and living rooms of seasoned collectors. This is a large painting that will make its present felt throughout an entire room.

(Prior series by the artist): “These paintings are a refreshing departure from the current abstract art world’s seemingly endless parade of fields of color with scribbles providing form, a style that is easily mimicked and has become a sort of “safe,” accessible go-to. There are confident decisions in these paintings appearing as commitments of strongly delineated forms and unexpected collisions of color that give the work a visceral, confident and playful soul, increasingly missing from contemporary expressionist abstraction. They are the paintings of a real painter rather than a decorative artist.” ArtSeen, 2018


I have been painting for about 30 years, since before I was a dealer. I always was and remain most drawn to so-called “painterly” painters, whose interest is less in the formal aspects of painting than in the paint itself, and signs of the artist’s hand in its application. Initially I was drawn to paintings from the magical period between New York Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Jim Dine and Cy Twombly. In the Eighties, it was New York neo-Expressionists such as Julian Schnabel, Terry Winters and Donald Baechler. As you can see, in the past few years my paintings have become more formal, but you can still see a lot of the hand in them. I grew up in New Orleans, lived in various places in the U.S. and Europe, then returned to "the Big Easy" to open my Magazine Street gallery, which I sold in 2017 before moving my art business entirely online. I still enjoy meeting fellow art collectors and painters when they visit New Orleans.