Greg DeGrace: Driftless
Online Exhibition
Greg DeGrace: Driftless
October 2, 2020 - January 10, 2021
With varying degrees of abstraction, Minneapolis artist Greg DeGrace’s paintings reference the geography of the Driftless region of Minnesota and Wisconsin, an area that escaped the flattening effects of glaciers during the last ice age. Working primarily in encaustic wax and pigment to create textural paintings, DeGrace references maps, aerial photographs, satellite images, linear and geometric patterns found in roadways, and plots of land, contrasted with the natural, free-flowing forms of area waterways. His paintings, filled with colors and patterns, create memories of where one has been or stories of where one may have always dreamt of going.
“I believe that everyone has an innate connection to maps. Maps provide more than just a way to locate destination or route, they may also provide memories or stories. Within my paintings, I intend to instill a sense of place within a visual and aesthetic narrative of the upper Midwest. I find inspiration from the maps of Minnesota and Wisconsin, two states in which I’ve lived the majority of my life. The locations that I use for my imagery is based on the geographical influences for that particular area. In my paintings these influences generally are lakes or rivers, some kind of environmental resource that defines the Midwest. In the process of creating this work I reference aerial and/or satellite photos and standard road maps in order to obtain the natural fluidity of linear and geometrical properties and the compositional abstraction that are contained within.
I work in encaustic because it allows me to build the surface into a topographical and sculptural effect that enhances the varied and dispersed points of view. Encaustic uses a medium of beeswax and dammar resin which is mixed with color pigments on a heated palette, applied to a surface with brushes or knives, and reheated with a secondary heat source (such as a heat gun) to fuse the layers of the painting to create an enamel like deep satin finish. I find that my use of wax, as a natural compound, can be reheated and reformed much like the ever changing landscape or current updates to a map. My paintings tend to be smaller, more intimate much like when unfolding a map that when viewed together gives the viewer an opportunity to observe the sum total of all the paintings of the region. I seek to merge the concepts of maps, the narration of the Midwest, and a bird’s eye view into an affectual display of contemporary landscape paintings.” -Greg DeGrace
DeGrace was born in Milwaukee, WI and his family moved several times within the state before settling in Neenah, WI. Since 2006 he has lived and worked out of his Orange Crush Studio in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. He holds a Bachelor Degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) and has a Master’s Degree in Fine/Studio Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
