Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Gunderman.
Robert, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I started painting about 30 years ago while in the Army. I was in a Rapid Deployment Force at Ft Bragg, in NC, and couldn’t travel more than an hour from base, so spent my evenings painting. The year I got out of the Army, I went to Otis Parsons and studied painting. Two months after leaving Otis, I opened my first gallery, and subsequently three more galleries/exhibition spaces. I continued to quietly make paintings while running my galleries, having shown them once about 20 years ago, under the pseudonym Floyd Claypool.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I primarily make oil paintings that range in size from 20 x 16 inches to 7 x 9 feet. I enjoy the immediacy and solitude painting offers. I grew up on and in the ocean, have spent a lot of time mountain climbing over the years, and live on a ranch, all of which influences my painting. Recently I’ve painted abstractions of mollusks and crustaceans. I’m interested in the role they play in filtering and cleansing the oceans, which cover about 3/4 of the earth’s surface. Most of us don’t think about them unless they’re on a menu. Other ideas come from astrophysics, quantum entanglement, and the idea that every observable thing is alive. I’m interested in duality, and simultaneous depictions of an object… “things” making “sense,” or conveying a familiar notion of accuracy in the work, often doesn’t interest me.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
I’ve always been obsessed with managing time, but I’d listen to that inner voice more clearly, and walk away from situations I know will turn out to be toxic or a waste of time, on any level. As I’ve aged, time’s value has changed.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I’ve had recent exhibitions at there-there, Desert Center Los Angeles, Rude Drawing and an upcoming show at Left Field Gallery.
Images can be seen: www.robertgunderman.com or @ranchodelsapo on IG.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.robertgunderman.com
- Instagram: @ranchodelsapo
Image Credit:
Robert Gunderman
Personal photo: Sam Frost Studio
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