Léonie Guyer
My paintings and drawings are characterized by idiosyncratic shapes deployed in a variety of spaces. The shapes conflate geometric and organic structures, and refer obliquely to natural forms, artifacts, cuneiform script, and architecture; while specific and individuated, they resist being named.
I work on old, salvaged, and handmade papers, marble remnants, wood panels, linen, silk, and in site-based projects on walls and windows. The use of particular materials and contexts extends the dialogue in my practice between the ancient and contemporary.
A regard for simplicity, ambiguity and nuance guides my process. What matters in the work is wholeness, energy and presence.
-Léonie Guyer
Biography:
Léonie Guyer makes paintings, drawings, site-based work, prints, and artist books. Her work is characterized by idiosyncratic shapes that are deployed in a variety of spaces. Guyer's work has been exhibited at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts; UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Shaker Museum, New Lebanon, NY; Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, OR; lumber room, Portland, OR; Mills College Art Museum, Oakland; Bibeau Krueger, NYC; Feature Inc., NYC; Peter Blum Gallery, NYC; staircase gallery, San Francisco; Delaplane, San Francisco; odium fati, San Francisco; 2nd floor projects, San Francisco; Mitsui Fine Arts, San Rafael; Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto; Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA; Gallery Joe, Philadelphia; PLUSkunst, Düsseldorf; and other venues.
Her work is held in numerous public collections including the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Reed College Art Collection; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Shaker Museum; Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; and others. She has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, California College of the Arts, University of California at Berkeley, San José State University, and elsewhere.
Léonie Guyer was born in New York, NY. She received a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. She lives and works in San Francisco, CA.
