ArtWalk Ventura Artist Spotlight: Scott Gordon

Up next in our Artist Spotlight series is Scott Gordon, who will be exhibiting in his studio at Bell Arts Factory for ArtWalk.  He received his Masters Degree in Studio Painting from California State University Northridge. He has been exhibiting nationally and internationally for over 20 years and his work is included in numerous private and public collections both. 

A brief description of his exhibit is immediately below. Following is a series of questions to allow you to get know Scott, his creative process and of course, his artwork. 

​empty architecture
A painting by its nature offers stillness and silence. It offers a glimpse into what the mind perhaps can't contain with language. The act of painting offers a chance for one to lose oneself and then find oneself anew, reinvented. The empty architecture series as about this sense of rediscovery- finding those moments where I have lost myself and found a visual poetry in the process...

How did you come to  be an artist (or sculptor, photographer, musician potter)? 

I was at a Robert Motherwell retrospective at the Los Angeles Museum of Art sometime in the early 80s. I walked into one of the exhibition rooms which had an 8 by 10 foot  "Elegy to The  Spanish Republic" in it. I remember standing there dumbfounded by its majesty. I had never experienced that degree of rapture in front of a painting before.  I did not know a painting was capable of that - perhaps it was its scale, perhaps it was the "subject matter" (it was abstract), or perhaps its was the paint itself.  Either way, after that experience I knew I wanted to be a painter.


In your eyes, what does ArtWalk Ventura bring to the community? 

ArtWalk Ventura is a chance for this vibrant arts community to open its doors and share with neighboring communities and tourists the richness and diversity of its artists.

What are your favorite memories from the past years of ArtWalk? 
​
I think last year's collaboration with Cuban artists was a stellar moment.

What are you looking forward to this year? 

A chance to be part of this community and in turn see what others have to offer. 

How would you define your creative process?

I jump in and lose myself in the process - holding onto hope, luck, intuition and past experience to guide me. I try to push myself to find new vocabularies, new methods, and new articulations.

When do you know when a work is complete?

It is something I know in my body. It is visceral. I cannot define it.

If you weren't working  in your current medium,  what type of artist would you be? 

I would be a musician.

What upcoming projects are you most excited about? 

​A 3-person show at the Brewery in downtown Los Angeles this coming November.

How else are you involved in the Ventura/805 community?

I work full time in Santa Barbara for a non-profit, so between my job and making art I don't have much time left for anything else.

Where would you like your work to take you?

My work has always been a personal journal, a spiritual practice of sorts. As such, my only goal is in the doing of it - it is a means of  conversing with the eternal Mystery and finding balance. It is there that I wish it to take me.

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Scott Gordon will be exhibiting from his studio at Bell Arts Factory for ArtWalk Ventura 2016.  ​