Review Extracts

"Guy's work is often politically charged. He utilizes his skill as a painter to reveal his social concerns. Themes of pollution, friction between humankind and nature, and social degradation are common in his work."

“Colwell’s work can be described as social realism presented through vibrant depictions of people and animals, often in surrealistic situations. He is a multitalented artist who is well known for his work in the “Comix” movement of the 1970’s....His work deals with social ills by presenting figures in strange and sometimes violent situations....This show is rich in color and texture, and everyy piece requires the viewers to read the story depicted and think about its message. Repeated viewing is recommended because of its depth and scope.”

“Colwell is a quiet man who speaks in measured tones and seems shy of the spotlight. His work, however, is anything but shy. Colwell’s magnum opus is Litter Beach, a large painting that hung as the centerpiece of the gallery’s Urban Realists show in July (2006).The cartoonish painting depicts a crowded beach so packed with shallow people, discarded wrappers and brand name products that not a speck of sand can be glimpsed.”

“...he devotes himself to creating personal and political art....he today remains true to his artistic training and political calling....Whether or not one agrees with his politics, Colwell refuses to back down from relating his personal view of reality.”

“A strong believer in artists’ participation in public discourse, Guy Colwell works from his underground comics sensibility to create edgy paintings of protest.”

“The art varies from more established painters such as social realist Guy Colwell, whose show of works reflect on Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks....”

“There’s one painting in the whole exhibit that rises above morose retreads of old grievances, though, that’s Guy Colwell’s “Disaster”. Two dozen modern Americans run screaming to the left, away from an unseen calamity off-screen right. yet there’s one young black dude near the action who isn’t running. He’s not even screaming. He stands still, nonplussed and suspiciously glancing toward Armageddon as if to say, “It figures.” The only thing that comes close to the levity and relevance of “Disaster” is Colwell’s 60-square-foot oil-on-canvas mural “Litter Beach.” An orgy of bright colors and human forms swarm over each other in a cartoonish depiction of Americans having some hot fun in the sun atop a beach comprised entirely of litter.”


“In spite of the attacker’s intention to censor the gallery, their crime has spurred the interests of the press, and has caused worldwide exposure of the painting (The Abuse). No doubt not only the value of the painting will dramatically increase, but people will remember it for ages to come. This painting will live in history.”

“One spectacular example is the massive canvas titled “Litter Beach” which is “littered’ with humanity as well as every conceivable piece of consumerism available.”

“He’s experienced life at its most bleak and its most hedonistic. He’s resisted the draft, been in jail and lived all over the place. And his art shows it.”

“Colwell, who was part of the Bay Area underground comics wave of the 70’s eventually applied his taste for ripe stylized human figures (he admits a fondness for Hieronymus Bosch) to a number of socially conscious pieces....These days his interest has turned green....Litter Beach represents the “worst” of both those worlds, a carnival of flesh spoiling the earth....”

“The events in his life caused his work to evolve from benign abstraction to powerful statements against violence. His latest work combines both elements....It is colorful, abrasive and reflects a sensitivity to homeless people....”

“Colwell’s Bosch-like visual world holds nothing sacred; his portraits of city life’s underbelly made him a hit with post boomers growing up in a post-peacenik age.”

“...densely-peopled tableaux of dramatically-pregnant life scenes....”

“Colwell has stuck to his convictions in painting throughout his career....His work focuses on ecology, social protest, peace and urban life...portraying groups of people interacting with each other....The intimate details, as well as the subject, display his social and political commentaries. Colwell’s works draw largely from memories of his own experiences. He’s participated in nuclear protests, peace walks...and was imprisoned for a year-and-a-half for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War.”
 
Guy Colwell  -  Painter. Born in Oakland; attended CCAC. His paintings, in a tight, linear style of illustrative surrealism, focus on themes of urban violence and social protest.


“To a small number of collectors, he is considered the most daring and outspoken artist to come from the political upheavals of the vietnam era...a modern Brueghal come to haunt us with mankind’s eternal brutishness....But there is a positive image in this revolutionary’s vision. See the hope filled multitude stream forth from the boiling city, tossing guns aside...”

“ ...I have to mention a painting by Guy Colwell. An image of punishment by a painter who has lived on the inside.
      For me this little 1977 gouache painting called Free Lunch was one of the strongest images of the show. The confined interior of a cell squashed even tighter by shallow perspective. An anquished figure staring vaguely out of the picture plane is aware of (but uncaring about) the tray of food pushed under the door. Here is punishment - temporal monotony and physical restriction.”

“Colwell has become well known for his highly detailed, realistic street scenes....his people are very particularized, their facial expressions carry a lot of messages.”

The comic panel is too small a universe for a painter like Guy Colwell. The...artist likes to expand the world of his dreams on canvas, and it’s a world that contains some of the finest American art.”

“A San Francisco master....You owe it to yourself to see this one.”

“...his profusion of detail and glossy, glistening surfaces lend his images a prickly heat power which one does not forget quickly.”

“His best pictures project a distinctive and unsettling vision with a force that is not at all common on the art scene....a bizarre blend of crude caricature and wyeth-like sophistication....There is a steely hardness beneath the saccharine prettiness of Colwell’s painterly surfaces, and an edge of nastiness to his expression that charges these pictures with a Gothic quality....”

“His approach is unique in that throughout his paintings, no matter how gruesome or frightening or sarcastic on the surface, there flows a kind of stoic faith in humanity rarely encountered in contemporary art.”