Gruenert, Harry Peinture [USA]

13 nov - 3 dec: uptownstudios gallery • 912 j street• sacramento, ca.• usa • ph 916-446-1082

Gruenert, who was born in Germany in 1955, came to the U.S. in 1983. In 2002, he took up painting while making wood frames for the painter Michael Shemchuck, who tutored him on matters of style, direction and color. Gruenert began painting with a zeal that surprised him. "I couldn’t stop," he recalls. For three weeks, he painted every day. Then and now, Gruenert paints without a plan. "When I start my work, I basically have no idea where I am going," he says. "I like to jump into a situation and work my way from the inside out." His paintings are raw, colorful, abstract and daring. "I believe in expression without words," he says. "I am not comfortable talking about my paintings and maybe I never will be." Painting is a mystery to him, he says, and he thinks it always will be: "There is a lot I can't explain." Gruenert is discovering that patience is central to the way he paints. “Although I began painting frantically, with nervous energy, I realize that patience is essential to the painting process. That’s because of the direction I am going in: more surface-oriented, more emphasis on color.” “If you want to recreate an old surface, which is what I try to do, you have to take your time,” he says. “I cannot do it in one or two sittings. I am realizing I must put down layer after layer of paint. I can see one layer as a decade, if I am thinking of the entire process as analogous to an ancient Egyptian wall, which was exposed to the elements for many years. Things age, they just don’t age quickly, and I am trying to recreate the aging process as an artist.”

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