DVAA Member since 2020

Louis Gribaudo

website:

About:

Louis is a Philadelphia, PA based artist and musician. In 1978 he was awarded a full scholarship to The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied figure drawing with Marshall Glasier. In 1990, he made the decision to concentrate solely on painting watercolor landscapes and did so until 2006. Through that sixteen year period, his paintings became more abstract and these ideas set the precedent for his current work. In 1994, at the Wayne Art Center, he won the Myrtle Jarvis Watercolor Award for his large watercolor of Sylvester’s Cove, Maine, and in 2007, at The Main Line Center for the Arts, he received the Canson Paper Prize for the mixed media work entitled “Memories of 54”. In 2016 he had a solo show at The Philadelphia Sporting Club. Recently his paintings have been included in the group shows at the DVAA Gallery, Hindsight, Light, Subjective Perspective, Perennial Visions, Through the Grid, Collective Awareness, In July 2021, his work was picked for the curated show; Up Against a Wall at the Awbury Arboretum. Also in the summer of 2021, he participated in a two person show with Joellyn Ross at Atria. Recently he was in the two person exhibit; “Caligiuri and Gribaudo” at the Design Cener East Market, Philadelphia, PA. His paintings and commissions are included in many private collections, as well as the Capital One Cafe in King of Prussia, PA.

Artist Statement:

In his current work, Gribaudo employs a process driven call & response approach with the aesthetic goal of balancing shifting degrees of chaos and potential through the orchestration of organic and geometric structures. No matter what the imagery may consist of, the subjects of digression and time are constant themes in his work. He is inspired by diverse sources: patterns (natural & man made), sound waves, cycles, waves, frequencies, urban decay, architectural artifacts, geometry, geology, astronomy, tribal & corporate symbols, icons, technology and commercial graphics. By making art, he endeavors to reveal the power and mystery that is common to them.

Gribaudo is drawn to the history of things; to the possibility of different outcomes based on combinations of planned decisions and random events. He is intrigued with how small, repetitive actions consistently applied over the course of time, create complex systems that are greater than the sum of their parts.

"There is the idea of what a painting could be,then there is what happens while making the painting.”

“I work by imposing a set of limitations at the start of each painting. This provides an outline for countless variations within the set. As an abstract painter, I use specific shapes and colors, and the ideas of how to compose them, with the intention of creating a poetic language that will stimulate personal thoughts and feelings in each individual viewer. I am fascinated by how simple geometric shapes occur in nature, and over the course of time, entropy affects not just objects, but also feelings and thought processes.
I am also a musician/composer, and I have always seen specific colors associated with specific musical notes and chords. So, color is a very important aspect of my work, and many of my paintings are based off of music running through my head while I paint.

Louis likes wild cards…random disruptions to patterns, frequency distortions, spontaneous decisions. When making a painting, these anomolies sometimes create the dynamic tension that pushes his work into a higher level, and sometimes they create a new problem to be solved. He finds that editing is a big part of his overall approach.

"I use acrylics, vinyl, tape, ink, printed paper, pencil, pen and crayons to make paintings. I apply paint many different ways, sometime I squeegee it on with old credit cards and strips of PVC; I press it on with different objects I find in the street, I use razor blades, sandpaper, water, and heat to alter the surfaces. I do gestural brush drawings that sometimes act as a basis for the final painting. I sometimes use recycled materials as well."

"I endeavor to find the connection between math and deliberation with nature and randomness."