3275 Laguna Canyon Road, Studio M-3, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Phone: (949) 300-3993

Paul Gardner Artist Paul Gardner is drawn to past civilizations.  His art merges ancient meanings and contemporary thoughts into visual forms.  Whether creating painting or sculpture, like an archeologist, his art is an excavation to reveal the past with a fresh, modern vision. Gardner uses collage to infuse his art with a variety of objects, giving a sense of digging up and discovery. He often creates four or five layers of painting over painting, assembling and reassembling a canvas,   he may even cut up a painted canvas and use portions of it as a collage.  In a series entitled "Archeology”, he plants objects in the surface, including stones and ground rocks, and then, using a reductive process, takes off paint and exposes what is beneath.  The series originated on a trip to New Mexico where he took part in an archeological dig. For inspiration, Gardner reads literature of ancient civilizations, such as stories of Gilgamesh and Babylonian Mythology.  His travels to the Southwestern USA were in search of American Indian lore.  In his "Desert" series, he builds up the surface with wood shavings, burlap and other textural elements to give a sense of the terrain, embedding in each work, items that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but relate to Indian stories.  Gardner works intuitively letting the art lead, rather than leading the art.  In this way, he makes unconscious discoveries as he re-encounters items that he had planted in previous incarnations.  In his search to unravel the past, Gardner became aware that his search for knowledge also propels discoveries about himself. Profoundly introspective, Gardner realizes that excavation of past cultures parallels his personal inquiry into his own unconscious and thoughts that color his artistic expressions. Gardner’s highly textural and abstract style is revealed into one dynamic canvas that holds the layers of ideas that fuse past cultures with current thoughts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Abstract from an article by Dr Roberta Carasso, Ph.d                                                                               Art Waves, April 2005, Laguna Beach, California, USA

• Studio visits are always welcome by appointment (949) 300-3993