Geoffrey Gersten
Nostalgia, Flair and Exceptional Technique Combine for Thrilling, Modern Oil Painting.
About Geoffrey Gersten:
Glinting color, sparkling edges, torn paper, 1950’s ad type, printed smiling faces, and thousands of matchbooks greet the artist every morning upon unlocking his studio door. 1930’s-1960’s toys, bottle caps, and tattered product boxes all speaking of the glorious yet simple, nostalgic midcentury past. What once was a handful of beautiful little lost objects has grown into an impressive collection of what the artist calls his “pleasure & treasures.”
Geoffrey Gersten elevates once quotidian mid-20th-century objects and memories to iconic status by faithfully portraying them in oils on larger-than-life-sized canvases. He often then bejewels his linen surfaces with a confetti of macro detail and colored light along painstakingly rendered torn paper edges that joyfully infuse fresh energy into scenes of bygone everyday life. The overall effect may sometimes feel photorealistic. But then, as viewers are drawn ever closer, Gersten’s brushwork reveals itself in areas of luscious impasto, pleasing the eye with his virtuoso handling of the paint itself. The results are nothing short of “a masterly oil-on-canvas tightrope act,” as Gersten’s work was described in a recent article in Western Art & Architecture magazine.
Such a combination of contemporary sensibilities and classical techniques stems from the Arizona-based artist’s unconventional background. Born in 1986, he trained initially as a teen virtuoso in computer-aided design, recruited straight out of high school into a promising career with Honeywell as a 3D designer of precision tools for aviation manufacturing. But ultimately, the lack of creativity in that career path led him to leave the tech world for fine art. Entirely self-taught through intensive research and exhaustive practice over more than a decade, he delved deeply into the techniques used by masters of the Dutch and Flemish Golden Age, including Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, and Jan Van Eyck, “trying to figure out how to use their techniques for the subjects I wanted paint.”
Gersten now deploys those techniques, coupled with a few respectful nods to Contemporary greats including Roy Lichtenstein and Jeff Koons, to breathe fresh, vibrant life into “moments from the past that are rich with human feeling,” he explains. As an article in Phoenix Home & Garden observed, “He is constantly pushing his own boundaries, driven by instinct to evolve his ability and style.”
His work has been exhibited internationally and is featured in important private collections including those of Mike Parker, former CEO and Chairman of Nike and now Chairman of The Walt Disney Company; home and lifestyle trendsetters and media stars Chip and Joanna Gaines; and entrepreneur, investor, and Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec. From a jubilant cowboy on a bucking bronc to a dancing showgirl once pocketed in a club where the music has long since faded, printed on a newly rediscovered matchbook, Geoffrey Gersten’s paintings celebrate life’s timeless pleasures and treasures with an uncannily ever-fresh spirit.
