Guy ilan Laks at Salazar Fine Art

Alexander Salazar Fine Art has sustained a home to artists with extraordinary talent and undeniable reason to get showcased in San Diego. On May 20 & 21, artist Guy ilan Laks continues this trend with his exhibit of vibrant and compelling paintings.

PAINTINGS: 13 illustrates Laks’ process as an artist as much as it offers a gripping final product. Laks brings his work to our city to reveal an organic creative process that he calls his “litters”: 10 paintings that he has raised and nurtured, to celebrate familial ties.

The large scale, thoughtfully-crafted paintings recapture a world before photography and videos, when painting was the form of communicating both feeling and subjects. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Guy ilan moved and traveled frequently, adding depth and wider perspectives into his artistic mindset. Laks’ travels to Barcelona, Spain and New Mexico have influenced the light, color, and social impact on his work with long strokes of colorful depth.

Artist Interview: As we await the San Diego exhibit and artist reception this May, we got up close and personal with Guy ilan Laks to learn more about his vision, inspiration, creative process, and new projects.

DiscoverSD: PAINTINGS: 13 seems to illustrate your creative process, not just the final product. Can you explain how and why?

Guy ilan Laks: My process is everything to me. I have been digging for years to arrive at a mark and a surface. PAINTINGS:13 represents the point of conception for the work that will consume me for the rest of my life. At the start of working on PAINTINGS:13 I began documenting my studio process with two video cameras on tripods. Finally all those film classes in art school are coming in handy. I have edited together 6 videos, set to songs I have written about painting. They are all on my YouTube page: YouTube.com/ilanlaks

DSD: Your paintings evoke a world before the emergence of multimedia. How do you feel that advances in photography and video have affected painting and older art forms?

Guy ilan Laks: Cameras capture so much so well. There are still areas, I believe magic areas, that cameras cannot capture. These are the places I want my paintings to go. The great non representational paintings of post world war two were brought on by a great existential threat to our existence that sent painters where only they can go. I believe I have been sent to that very place by a post 9/11 world. I have worked hard to achieve a contemporary surface, that is not glossy and textured but deep, smooth, and matte. I have given up using oil paints, because I believe that the nostalgia and romance of oil paints was a distraction from the conversation I am trying to further.

DSD: You have traveled all over the world. What country or city most inspires you and your artistic vision?

Guy ilan Laks: The cities that have made the most impact on me are, San Francisco, Barcelona, Jerusalem, And Los Angeles. They all have real contrasts, honesty, poetry. In all of them I have experienced the sublime, the horrific, love, and deep empathy. 

DSD: Were you surprised to find your AudioCinema roof installation in Portland attracted so much attention and press? What messages were you most trying to convey through the worlds you painted?

Guy ilan Laks: I was very pleased to see that the city appreciated my drop in the bucket. I really just wanted to use something normally used to aggressively "sell at you", for a simple kindness.

DSD: Why are you looking forward to exhibiting in San Diego at Alexander Salazar Fine Art?

Guy ilan Laks: It is not often an artist meets someone like Mr. Salazar, who has true passion, understanding, and know how. San Diego is a beautiful city with a sophisticated art community that is growing in a large part due to this Gallery.

DSD: What new projects are you working on now?

Guy ilan Laks: In my search I have found that what makes a good painting a great painting is the power of each individual mark. Since the completion of PAINTINGS:13, I have created a group of paintings that explore the magic of the mark. If I can isolate a few tremendous marks, and keep the depth of my paintings, I can make epic large scale paintings. I am just completing a 12 foot high and 20 foot long painting that will hang at a major movie sound production company "740 Sound" in Los Angeles. I am looking for large walls to house or exhibit my new large scale paintings. I am at my studio at 9am five days a week, mining my marks, and perfecting my surface, trying to see how large a mark I can make without losing the infinity and individuality of each square inch of surface.

DSD: What is one fun fact we don’t know about you?

Guy ilan Laks: The night of the opening, May 21st, is my birthday! 

About The Artist: He received his BFA from SFAI (San Francisco Art Institute) and by his graduation, he founded AudioCinema, a 20,000 square-foot production facility used by over 200 artists in Portland, Oregon. An innovative and creative thinker, Laks designed a sign on the AudioCinema roof to paint single words on either side, changing the positive message 14 times over the course of the live installation. The piece has garnered a mass of public and media attention as a notable part of the Portland skyline.

Laks’ is well-versed in allowing audiences into his artistic process: He exhibited with the New Mark Gallery in downtown San Francisco, the Galerie Seus Terre in Holland, and the Rake Gallery in downtown Portland. Currently residing in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter, he has become an active part of the LA art community, a member of the Los Angeles Art Association and included in several Gallery 825 exhibits.

See for Yourself: To discover the intrinsic relationships found within Laks’ work, you are invited to the Alexander Salazar Fine Art Gallery on May 20 and 21, where guests will also have the opportunity to meet the mastermind at the artist reception. Find out more information at alexandersalazarfineart.com.

Discover more local entertainment ideas in our San Diego events calendar.