Anne Marie Grgich
|
Born in Harbor City, California in 1961, Anne Grgich began making spontaneous art at the age of fifteen, mostly by clandestinely painting in her family’s books, or making junk constructions. She first introduced collage into her work around 1988, but took it to a higher level in 1997 during a period of illness. During her convalescence she worked in bed, making paintings on file cards and CD’s and organising collages from material she had collected. When she had recovered, later that year she began to produce collage paintings — images of people encountered over time in the street and in mind journeys that manifest themselves and recombine, according to her mood, in the process of creation. Recently, she has described her faces and people as ‘manifestations of conglomerated persona, in a way acting out these characters’. In a way they are a displacement for action in the world out there; fragments of experience, thought and interaction brought together to produce new possibilities out of contemplation. As she puts it, ‘bundling images, separating them’, then looking for ‘interrelating pieces to build meaning and feeling’. Seen separately these faces are individually commanding, but seen together, they form not so much a series of portraits as a group of living presences.
Collage can be a powerful force for a creator who is interested in the chance encounter and the production of new meaning out of the unexpected, rather than the banal re-rehearsing of the commonplace. In Anne Grgich’s work collage, when bound together by paint, resin and pen, often provides the equivalent of a city walk; a distillation of the little marginalia of experience, things noticed out of the corner of one’s eye, as well as more expectedly assertive phenomena. This is especially powerful at times in her handmade books, which can look like a little pile of discarded packaging at first glance, but which reveal a rich treasure when opened and pored over. ‘Practicality and simplicity’ have, as she says, influenced her style, driven by the need for visual clarity and lack of space and materials. On one level, therefore, she makes books ‘partially because I can squeeze twenty paintings in a 20 x 25 cm book’.
The book format also introduces a further element of interactivity in the encounter with Anne’s work. They are made out of the individual experience of their creator, but are pregnant with the possibility of endless narrative journeys in the hands of each person who picks them up. In these ‘narratives’ anything is possible: cigar labels jostle with warnings about locks and fragments of ancient wallpaper patterns of a rural idyll; beads, string, and sticks of gum are embedded in resin laid over collaged images; a woman’s face is painted over various elements, from candy wrappers to a vaguely pornographic moving image of a woman posing with a car, which then rejoin the game of representation and memory. A fragment of admonitory text on this last page might serve as a guide for approaching all of Anne’s work: ‘Don’t ask why’. However, do ask any other question of these enigmatic images, and do explore with opened eyes and mind.
— Colin Rhodes
2 January 2005
EXHIBITIONS
2006-2008
Internal Guidance Systems, The show represents a critical cross section from the vanguard of a new modern movement in visionary art, curated by Anne Grgich, Colin Rhodes.
Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, OR May 2006
N4th Gallery Albuquerque, NM June 2006
Outsiders and Others, Minneapolis, MI Fall 2006
Tag Gallery, Nashville TN. February 2007
Garde Rail Gallery, Seattle, WA 2008
Track 16, Santa, Monica, CA 2008
Additional Venues to be announced through 2008, see website and full page ads in Raw Vision Magazine, producing a 96 page book full color catalog by Colin Rhodes, Jen. P. Borum, Tom Patterson, 28 Artists, including photo Raw Vision Photographer, Ted Degener.
2006-2007
Mark Woolley Gallery, Small Wonders, Group Exhibition, Portand, OR
Art Singulier Festival, Incarceration, Summer, France
Art Haus, Month Long Group Show, Nashville, TN.
The Outsider Art Fair, NYC Henry Boxer Gallery, London, UK. 2006-2007
The Outsider Art Fair, NYC Gallery Bourbon Lally, Canada
2005
Museum Création Franche, Créations Dissidente, 6 Artists, Bègles, France
Gallery Herenplaats, Rotterdam, The (U.S.) of the Unconscious, Group Show, curated by Phil Smith
Art Singulier International Festival, Aubagne, France
Create/Fixate, Taylor Spring Arts Tower, Gallery Row, Los Angeles, CA
Fantazious, Taylor Spring Arts Tower, Gallery Row, Los Angeles, CA
International Outsider Art Fair, NYC, Represented by Gallery Bourbon Lally, NYC, Canada
Simply Red, The Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Kentuck Arts Festival, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Garde Rail Gallery, Seattle, WA. The New of Ree Brown, Anne Grgich, Tim Fowler
The Outsiders Gallery, 2 Person Exhibition, Anne Grgich / Mr. Imagination, Conneticut
Marcia Weber Gallery, at Broome St. Gallery, NYC, 12th Annual Self-Taught Artist Exhibition
Harmony Gallery, Hollywood, CA “Divine Messages”, 12 week exhibition PDF
2004
AAF Gallery, NYC, Represented by Gallery Bourbon Lally, Montreal, BC
The Kentuck Arts Center, The Kentuck Arts Festival, Tuscaloosa, AL
The Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, OR “Miniatures”, 25 international artists, curated by Anne Grgich. PDF
ART HAUS/Harmony Books Gallery, Hollywood, Thornton Dial/Anne Grgich
The Walker Gallery, Milwaukee WI. “Sister Stories” curated by Della Wells / David Smith
International Outsider Art Fair, NYC Represented by Henry Boxer Gallery
2003
Artesian, Edinburgh, Scotland UK “Symptom & Symbol: Art/Healing Process”
James Coleman/Pauline Flach Production, London, UK The Outlaws, “Wanted” Cuidado! Armandos Y Peligrosos, Vivos O Muertos, “Exhibition of the European group of Art”
Inspired Art Fair, London, England, UK,
Intuit Art Fair, Chicago, IL, “Yard Dog Gallery
Cobalt Design, Marietta, GA “The World of Anne Grgich & Norbert H. Kox”
Atlanta Folk Festival, Norcross, GA, Garde Rail, TAG Gallery
2002
Garde Rail Gallery, Seattle, WA “The Method of Annie - 12 Years of Anne Grgich” (solo exhibition)
Garde Rail Gallery, Seattle, WA”Scattered, Smothered & Covered, Southern American Outsider & Folk”
Three Gallery, San Pedro, CA “Held Ransom”, Dysfunctional Relationships
Yard Dog Folk Gallery, Austin TX Magic Seven, Group Show
TAG Art Gallery, Nashville, TN, Recent Grgich & Apocalyptic Art
Garde Rail Gallery, Seattle, WA, Blocks & Totems: The Toy Show
2002-2003
American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD “HIGH on LIFE”
2002-2005
Exhibits USA Curated & toured by a subdivision of the Mid-America Arts Alliance, “Revelations and Reflections of American Self-Taught Artists
Selected Tour Dates
The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR. September 01, 02 - October 20, 02
Stedman Art Gallery, Camden, NJ November 10, 2002 - January 07, 2003
Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, OH January 28, 2003 - March 16, 2003
Union College, Schenectady, NY June 16, 2003 - August 11, 2003
UNLV Barrick Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada, November 10, 2003 December 14, 2003
Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT February 20, 2004-March 20, 2004
The Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury April 06, 2004- August 04
Hearst Art Gallery, Moraga, CA September 01, 2004 - October 20, 2004
Loveland Museum and Gallery, Loveland, CO. November 10, 2004 – February,05
The Art Museum of SE Texas in Beaumont, TX June, 2005 - August,14, 2005
The Museum of the Southwest in Midland, TX April, 6, 2005 - May, 25, 2005
2001
Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, OR “Anne Grgich 2001” (solo exhibition)
Yard Dog Gallery, Austin, and TX “Anne Grgich, Paintings” (solo exhibition)
Garde Rail Gallery, Seattle, WA “Paintings/Books”(solo exhibition)
2001-2002
TAG Gallery, Nashville, TN “Sibling Rivalry: The Art of Brother and Sister”
Modern Primitive Gallery, Atlanta, GA “Anne Grgich/Terry Turrel
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma WA “Smithsonian Folk Art Collection”
Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France “Noir Sur Blanc: Mondes Intérieur, “8” International Artists
2000
Elisa Pritzker Gallery, New Paltz, NY “Self-Taught Masters” (group exhibition)
American Pie Art, Wilmington, NC “ Group Exhibition”
MIA Gallery, Seattle, WA “Straight from the Heart” (group exhibition)
Katonah Library, Katonah, NY “The Hand Connected to the I”
1999
America, Oh Yes! Washington, DC, “American Folk Artists” (group exhibition)
1998
Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA “Recent Paintings” (solo exhibition)
Sailors Valentine Gallery, Nantucket, MA “ Recent Paintings” (two person exhibition)
1997
Fassbinder Gallery, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA “Ex Libris” (group exhibition)
MIA Gallery, Seattle WA “So Long Salon” Mia McEldowney, closing gallery exhibition
1996
MIA Gallery, Seattle, WA “In Search of Absence” (solo exhibition)
American Primitive Gallery, NYC “NW Visions” Anne Grgich, Terry Turrel, Calkins
Sheppard Art Gallery, Reno, NV “Memories and Visions” (group exhibition)
1995
Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR “Tough Love” (solo exhibition)
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA The “Illustrious Art of Books”
Society of Contemporary Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA “Social Fiber, Unraveling the Message”
Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA “Folie ? Deux: Collaborative Teams” (group exhibition)
1993
MIA Gallery, Seattle, WA “Heads or Tails” (group exhibition)
MIA Gallery, Seattle, WA “Northwest and Beyond” (group exhibition)
Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR “Mind Screens” (two person exhibition)
1990
Gallery A, NYC “Curated by Rachel Kind” (group exhibition)
1989
Gallery 163, Seattle WA “Female Figures of the Ages” (solo exhibition)
1987-1988
Whatcom County Art Museum, Bellingham, WA “NW Annual Competition”
Alonso/Sullivan Gallery, Seattle WA “Two Artists” (Anne Grgich & Jose Isquierdo”
1981
Friction Gallery, Group Book Show, Portland, Oregon, ‘8’ Books
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Internal Guidance Systems, Published in conjunction with IGS, May 2006. A 96 page color catalog. An overview of the visionary process that will cover the reception of consciousness in relation to outsider art and its potential in art history and healing. The writers are Colin Rhodes, Jenifer P. Borum and Tom Patterson, with Photographs by Raw Vision Photo Editor, Ted Degener, and artworks by 28 different artists selected for the exhibition "Internal Guidance Systems", co-curated by Anne Grgich and Colin Rhodes. IGS Cover Art by Cathy Ward, UK Tressure Rise, 2001,
Museum Creation Franche, March 2005, Issue #24 Life pulsating, troubled, exalting - work by Anne Marie Grgich, by Colin Rhodes
American Visionary Art Museum, “High on Life/Transcending Addiction” Virtual Tour Bridge to Compassion-2005
American Visionary Art Museum, “High on Life/Transcending Addiction” Magazine 2003-2004
Preview, The Gallery Guide, (magazine/Online) Alberta-British Columbia-Oregon-Washington, June/July/August 2004 Full Page review on “Miniatures”
Tom Patterson, “Art Along the Boundaries” An appraisal of the liminal artists working on the boundaries of Outsider Art, (color image from “The Palimpsest Book” ) 1998 Raw Vision Magazine issue 46 2004
Raw News, “The Red Odessa at Garde Rail Gallery” Raw Vision Magazine issue
”Self Portrait”, written by Anne Grgich Artesian Arts, Edinburgh Scotland, UK 04
Internal Guidance Systems, (USA Tour 2006-2008) Forthcoming International touring exhibition of Outsider Art Initiated and organized by Anne Grgich, Co-Curator and writer for IGS, by Paul Gasoi/Anne Grgich Artesian Arts, 2004
The Goddessa Variety, illustrated by Anne Grgich, Artesian Arts, 2004
Revelations and Reflections of American Self-Taught Artists, Exhibits USA Catalogue. 2002-2005
Albert Jen: Toys as Art at Garde Rail, South Seattle Star. 2002.
Noir Sur Blanc Catalogue 2001-2002 Damian Michaels, Martine Lusardy, Director/Curator, Halle Saint Pierre, Noir sur Blanc: Mondes Intérieurs. Paris: Travioles/Halle Saint-Pierre, 2001
Still Life Giving, 2001, A Journey into outsider Art, 24 Minute Video Interviews airs on Canadian Bravo TV, Yuri Arajas
Raw Vision Outsider Art Source Book, The Essential Guide to Outsider Art, Art Brut, Contemporary Folk Art
Sellen, Betty-Carol, with Cynthia J. Johanson. Self-Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art: A Guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources. Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2000.
Gonnella, Rose. “The Books of Anne Grgich.” Raw Vision [cover story]. No. 22, Spring, 1998.
Cohen, Lita Solis: “New York City, The Outsider Art Fair” Maine Antique Digest. 1998
Gonnella, Rose. “A Connection with Faces.” Arts Net. Spring 1997.
Smith, Roberta. “Outsider Art Review.” New York Times. January 24, 1997
Patterson, Tom. Catalogue MIA Gallery, Seattle, WA 1996.
DeForest, Chase. “Anne Grgich.” Folk Art Finder, Vol. 17. No.3, July-September, 96.
Gillis, Cydney. “Outsider Looking In.” The Stranger. September 12, 1996.
Grossman, Bonnie. Memories and Visions: Self-Taught and Outsider Artists West of the Rockies, Reno Univ. of Nevada, 1996.
Rosenak, Chuck & Jan. Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collectors Guide. NYC: Abbeville Press, 1996
Patterson, Tom. “Bandwagon Reactionaries and Barricade Defenders.” New Art Examiner. September 1994.
GRANTS/SCHOLARSHIPS/AWARDS
2004
Slotkin Folk Art Auction, GA. Book from the Rosenak Collection
Office of Cultural Affairs, Grant with SPACE Sand Point Way/Teen Art Project: Sculptural Puzzle /Book Arts
COCA/Garde Rail Gallery/airport art/globe & hand carved & painted wood totem
2003
Office of Cultural Affairs, Grant with SPACE Sand Point Way/Teen Art Project: Sculptural Puzzle /Book Arts
Rawvisions, List Creator and moderator, List has grown to over 344 members
2002-2005
Selected for the Inclusion in the Washington State Arts Commission Competition for the “Artists Resource Bank” Art in Public Places Program, Truman High School.
2001
Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Emergency Assistance Grant, NYC
Artists Fellowship Inc. Emergency Assistance Grant, USA
1987
Cornish College of the Arts, One Semester, Scholarship, Seattle, WA
SELECTED PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Max Amann, Switzerland
Museum Création Franche, Begles, France
Patricia Baum, USA
Katherine Dunn, Portland, Oregon
Manuel Isquierdo Estate, Portland, Oregon.
Micheal Francis Brophy, Portland, Oregon
Gordon Gilkey, Portland, Oregon
William Jamison, Portland, Oregon
Jenny Stanley, Portland, Oregon
Mark Woolley, Portland, Oregon
Carolyn & Robert Doughton, Portland, Oregon
Steve Doughton, Portland, Oregon
Rachel Kind, NYC
Phil & Bitty O’Sullivan Smith, NYC
Dave Seehausen, NYC
Mia McEldowney, Seattle, Washington
Tom Patterson, Winston, Salem, North Carolina
David Smith, Vermont
Steve & Dolly Hessler, Washington, DC
Randall Lott, Marrieta, Georgia
Mark Karlson, Atlanta, Georgia
Smithsonian Folk Art Registry. Virginia
The Chuck and Jan Rosenak Collection, Florida
Terry Turrell, Seattle, Washington
The Anthony Petullo Collection, Milwaukee,Wisconsin
The Lois Zetter Collection, Carlsbad, NV
Dick Goerig, NV
Mark Rosenthal, NYC
Elaine Johansen, American Pie Gallery, Wilmington, NC
Damian Micheals, Melbourne, Austrailia
Kevin Sampson, New Jersey
Cathy Ward, UK
Charles Benefiel, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
London Art Museum, Outsider Archives, UK.
Halle Saint Pierre, Museum, Paris, France.
Martine Lusardy, Paris France
Eileen Doman, Chicago, IL
Kimberly Carlsen, Chicago, IL.
Corrine Riley, Chicago, IL.
Sandra Robishaw, USA
Robert Collison, San Fransisco, CA
SELECT ART DONATIONS
American Folk Art Museum, NY, NY
The American Folk Art Society, Katrina Benefit, Virginia
Cascade Aids Project, Portland, Oregon
Artist Trust, Seattle, Washington