Oakland, CA / Manila jeffgz+art@gmail.com
The pursuit of peace gives purpose to my painting, brought to life by a curiosity for international culture, art history, everyday objects, and objective values.
My process begins with thinking—thinking about the things we see and interact with every day. Things like maps, flags, clocks, currencies, useful patterns and symbols. These lead me to broader topics like cartography, vexillology, horology, numismatics, semiotics and symbolism. I plumb the depths of such and similar subjects, finding inspiration along the way.
I look back to great creatives of the 20th century, wanting to “carry the torch,” as it were, from where artists like Jasper Johns, Josef Albers, Agnes Martin, and Alma Thomas left it. There is still much to be done with painting inspired by painting, by daily life and the inner life, and by care, color, and play. While the art world hurtles past postmodernity, I step back to serve the unfulfilled ambition of modernity—to make for humanity a better place.
It was the artist Wassily Kandinsky who declared that art is “a power which must be directed to the improvement and refinement of the human soul.” In complete agreement, I wield this power by searching world cultures not only for art and visual artifacts but truth and wisdom. The inquiries of modern art, so largely (yet vaguely) preoccupied with spiritual concerns, are a fitting vehicle for findings both physical and metaphysical. International peace must begin with inner peace.
My work builds a bridge between society’s many divides. Divides that separate fine art from everyday life, the secular from the spiritual, and painting from purpose. There remain gaps between nations and neighbors that art in the spirit of interculturalism can help close. Let us transform “art for its own sake” into “art for our sake.”
Available upon request.
June 2022
“Ornamentum Hieronymi,” an homage to the Pattern and Decoration Movement. Other views [1] [2], source.
May 2022
Some hagiographic drawings.
March 2022
“Seeds of the Word,” a short film and placeless installation.
November-December 2021
New murals at Holy Virgin Cathedral, “Joy of All Who Sorrow,” San Francisco.
October 2021
“Negative Theology,” a companion piece to “Narrow Door.”
September 2021
“Inflammatory Maxims,” a text installation.
August 2021
Eternity (g.Yung-drung, བོན) and Morality (善人道, Shànréndào).
July 2021
سه گانه با پرچم های شیعه (three Shiʻa flags) and Триптих с российскими флагами (Russian flag triptych).
March 2021
New website launched. (Welcome, and thank you for visiting!)
December 2020
“Forever and Ever” (Nos. 1-12) awarded third place in the 2020 Engage Art international juried art contest.
October 2020
Jeffrey’s Maxims (400 B.C.-2020) featured at “No Show,” a group exhibition hosted by Deco Art Gallery in partnership with Oakland Art Murmur.