A Bay Area artist whose work is influenced by the Tonalist School of California landscape painting as well as more recent developments that include performance and conceptual art.
At the core of Mr. Gehrig’s compositions is an intention to set a surreal stage for personal, site-specific happenings. The work references the human condition—the fact that we alter the surface of the planet in both strange and beautiful ways.
The odd structures that we build; the formulas that we utilize; the information technologies we’ve created—all are designed to help us understand our environment. In this work, these structures, objects and fragments of information are integrated into the landscape—or juxtaposed with it—to become an integral whole. The works are often surrounded by a mixed media background that could include mathematics, maps, bits of sentences, poems and other miscellanea. An unusual dichotomy takes place between the theater that is happening within the canvas and the sea of information that it floats upon.
Most always, the works begin as no particular place, no preconceived single idea or concept. But after a period of time, the work unveils itself. Events or evidence of events are introduced. Throughout much of the work is a sense of the absurd; and finally a somewhat surreal sense of humor that glorifies the odd or taken-for-granted.
Solo Exhibits:
2008 Susan Woltz Gallery, Seattle, WA
2006 D’Adamo/Woltz Gallery, Seattle, WA
2005 “Expect the Unexpected”, Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, MT
2004 “Tom Gehrig – A Personal Theatre” Art Gallery, College of Marin, Kentfield, CA
2003 “The Unexpected Always Happens” Wiseman Gallery, Rogue River College, Grants Pass, OR
2002 Stevenson Gallery, So. Or. University, Ashland, OR
2002 College of Merced Art Gallery, Merced, CA
2004 D’Adamo/Woltz Gallery, Seattle, WA
2003 D’Adamo/Woltz Gallery, Seattle, WA
2001 D’Admao/Woltz Gallery, Seattle, WA
2000 D’Adamo/Woltz Gallery, Seattle, WA
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