Grant Wells
Grant Wells
Grant Wells
Grant Wells’ paintings on canvas are made through the repetitive incorporation of painting, photography, and digital image transfer. He received his B.A in Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz and currently lives and works in New York City.
Solar Cut
2020 Ink transfer and acrylic on canvas 167.64 x 137.16 cm / 66 x 54 in
Through the build-up of ink and transparent membranes, an accumulation of marks, smears, and drips disintegrate the relationship between the painterly material and the digital image. Suggestions of landscapes are distorted and abstracted throughout Grant's body of work as an investigation into changes in visual space, shaped by a culture of technological integration and dependence.
Thin Nature
2020 Ink transfer and acrylic on canvas 167.64 x 137.16 cm / 66 x 54 in
Suspended
2020 Ink transfer and acrylic on canvas 167.64 x 137.16 cm / 66 x 54 in
Grant Wells on his practice
My ideas for the paintings have stayed the same, but the way I approach them has changed throughout these last few months. I use an ink transfer process as well as paint. So there is a photographic element that is introduced to the painting. And I source the imagery from computer generated landscapes. I feel like I have a connection to California landscape painting, even though I’m not necessarily trying to depict or represent any kind of particular landscape, there’s always been this through-line of the West Coast. Now, since the quarantine, issues about going out into space and dealing with how we interact and move through space has really changed the way I look at open landscapes. So I guess coming back to the studio, I have a different perspective on ideas of looking at landscapes in a physical or virtual way. So in my paintings, I’m trying to blend these two ways of looking onto one surface.
Hunter MFA
The annual Spring 2020 Thesis Exhibition for graduates of the Hunter College MFA Studio Art program represents works by 19 artist graduates of this nationally noted program. Originally planned as a series of physical presentations at Hunter’s 205 Hudson Street campus in Tribeca, but canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MFA Thesis Exhibition’s digital iteration aims to provide a new, expanded platform for young artists entering the field.