ABOUT THE ARTIST

Gregory Eltringham is a Savannah, Georgia artist who received a Diploma in Illustration from the Art Institute of Boston, his B.A. in Art from Northeastern University in Boston, and his M.F.A. in Painting from the Savannah College of Art & Design.  He currently is the Painting Department Chair at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

His works have been exhibited in solo, two-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States and was selected for inclusion in 2002 edition of New American Paintings.  He is in private collections around the country.  This is his first solo exhibition at the gallery.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

My paintings for the past few years have dealt with portrait and landscape, both working independently of each other and fusing the two into narratives. Though I initially resisted, I have been drawn to portraiture particularly in thinking about how it functions as a traditional motif in contemporary society. The most recent portraits include environments that relate specifically to my travel experiences, and the individuals portrayed are potentially unsettling to look at, but for the most part harmless.

Previous shows over the last few years have dealt with individual circumstances, chance, control, security, and anxiety. The new paintings have many of these elements but there is a greater interest in working with contemporary subjects and relating them to specific historic models to draw parallels to the political, social, economic, and cultural issues of previous self-entitled societies. For me, the work functions both as a contemporary document and as a familiar artifact.