Bio

Greg Gould
(1976 - )

Greg was born in Los Angeles on March 1, 1976 at 5:01 AM. At the point of his birth, he succumbed to a condition known as 'Hydrocephalus', and was immediately operated on so as to subdue its effects. Being born as the youngest of 6, he was constantly surrounded by much activity, (which his doctors believed was good for his mental development), however, he was unable to be as physically active as children around him. As such, he began at an early age to draw and explore his imagination....

In addition to his work on this production of 'Modigliani', he worked on a large scale martian backdrop for 'Star Trek: The Interviews', which was shot for the Sci-Fi channel in Hollywood, CA.

At this point, he began to focus again on portraying imaginary realms and using light and shadow in a form of visual poetry. One Summer in Del Mar, California, before moving back to Los Angeles, he opened the drawer of an old table, and found an odd photograph of two unkown women, one old, the other middle aged. The expressions on their faces, and 'disenchanted' tension he sensed between these two women led him to create a dyptich, which he termed
'Bi-Polar'.

Greg graduated with a degree in Fine Art in 1998, and spent time digitizing paintings for distribution over the internet, and painting a few murals in L.A. and San Francisco.

In 1999, after living for a couple months in China, he moved to NYC to live and work with artist Lilo Kinne at the ARTSACE - NEW YORK. During this time, his creative output took on primarily digital means. Among other works, the two created video discs of art performance clips that were then given to curators and collectors in Europe, during the many occasions that they went throughout France, Germany, and Switzerland.

As of December 2002, Greg has since stopped his work with Lilo Kinne and the ARTSPACE- NEW YORK, and has moved back to L.A. to continue to working as a multimedia artist of numerous disciplines.

Early on, Greg felt drawn to circuses and the 'mystique' which they seemed to have. Clowns of all sorts and circuses have instilled elements which are very evident in his work today, even when these elements seem to be portrayed with more cynical tones. At times his messages are critical, conveying an 'ironic' wit, such as in the case of his painting 'Family of Modern Crimes'. In this work, a mother is seen holding her infant which has a ski mask over its head. Above the infant is a caption from the mother which reads, 'How Cute! He looks just like his father!'.

Throughout his school years, he gained inspiration from much mental wandering and daydreaming. Greg's parents valued the presence of his artistic interests, and when he was young he was taken to museums for artistic exposure. At the age of 10, he traveled to Italy with his parents to visit his oldest sister who had been living there. It was then that he saw the Sistine Chapel for the first time, and numerous architectural and artistic feats of the rennaissance masters, which all left an immeasurable impression on him. Upon his return from Italy, however, he had a malfunction of his shunt (a device in his body necessary for his survival), and required 2 operations that year. It was at this time that he began to use art as an expression of feelings he had, and how he felt about life.

Another example of 'Art as Social Commentary' is his 'Freak Show' series, which is shown, in part, on exhibit above. Particularly, the work 'Dolly' speaks about the need for caution in exploring cloning. Another work, 'Oddity on Parade' makes a statement about the need for many human beings, and society in general, to 'explode' their overblown egos. This is message is conveyed by a view of a dummy figure in a suit with a lit wick leading into its chest.

In 1996, he worked at creating numerous Modigliani reproductions for a play in Los Angeles. This play had been publicized in the local newspapers, and Greg spent many late hours working in the studios to produce numerous of the artist's portraits of Chaim Soutine, as well as numerous nude studies of Modigliani's various women.

In 1997, Greg moved to Sydney, Australia, where he began creating etchings in addition to painting. At this point his work centered around faces, and the many ways in which faces could be presented. Spending time in the rainforests and many hours scuba diving underwater, Greg had many experiences which directly influenced his art from this time. Images and forms such as Eggplants (another favorite object Greg likes to explore) were rendered in bright, saturated colors, and in July of 1997, his work was shown in an exhibition called 'About Face' in a gallery in Sydney, Australia.