Erling Sjovold
Born Richmond, VA
Education
1988-90
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1990
M.F.A., Painting and Drawing, May
1983-84
University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
1984
B.A., Art, May 1984. Phi Beta Kappa
1980-82
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
1979-80
Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA
Solo Exhibition
2012
Old River, New Shore, Old Shore, New River, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
2011
Marcia Burtt Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA. Recent Paintings
2008
Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, IL, Sun, Sugar, Shadow: Trouble with Time
2007
Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation/ Space Program Studios, NY, NY,
Open Studio – three public exhibitions held by each participating artist as part of the year-long, Sept.-’06-Aug.’07, residency program)
2005
Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, IL. “Foil and Stray”, recent paintings
2003
Flippo Gallery, Randolph Macon College, Ashland, VA. Recent Paintings
Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA, Recent Work
2002
Hollins University, Roanoke, VA, Recent paintings
2000
Lacuna Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA. Recent Paintings
Group Exhibtion
2010
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – Pauley Center Gallery, Richmond, VA
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – Pauley Center Gallery, Richmond, VA
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – Richmond International Airport gallery, Richmond, VA
2009
Harnett Museum, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, Story and Form (Steven DiBenedetto, Angela Dufresne, Hanneline Rogeberg, Erling Sjovold)
2008
Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, IL, (collaboration with painter Patrick Welch)
Center for the Arts Gallery, Towson University, Baltimore, MD, (October)
Plane Space, New York, NY, Gangbusters
2007
Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, Art Club
Reynolds Gallery – Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, (Still Life)
Fifty/50 Gallery, Chicago, IL., Micromentalists
Dogmatic/Butcher Shop, Chicago, IL, Micromentalists
Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL. (contemporary landscape show)
2006
Reynolds Gallery – Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA. (California landscape)
2005
Art Chicago (13th Annual International Contemporary Arts Fair) (Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago)
1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA. Chris Chase, Hiroshi Kimura, Erling Sjovold
2004
McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA. David Douglas, Bill Dunlap, Alyson Weege, Erling Sjovold
Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY. Watercolor -May
1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA. Critical Mass Juror: Peter Schjeldahl, critic New Yorker, Art Forum.
Commonwealth of Virginia –Senate/General Assembly Building, Richmond. VA
2003
Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, IL. 1+1=3 (collaboration with painter Patrick Welch) Kouros Gallery, New York, NY. Watercolor.
Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, IL. Guest List
Cudahy’s Gallery, Richmond. VA. Recent Work: Erling Sjovold and Ephraim Rubenstein
Commonwealth of Virginia – Senate/General Assembly Building, Richmond. VA.
2002
Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Inventive Landscapes
Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Disruptive Topographies (Utah Landscapes of Hooper, Smith and Sjovold)
Boyden Gallery, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, MD. The Nature of Nature Andrews Gallery, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA. Plein-Aire Revsited
Chicago International Art Exposition – Navy Pier (Bucheon Gallery), San Francisco, CA
Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Inspiring Narratives San Francisco International Art Exposition –Fort Mason Center (Bucheon Gallery), San Francisco, CA
2001
Lacuna Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA. Holiday
First Street Gallery, California State University–Humboldt, Eureka, CA, Oct. –Nov. Disruptive Topographies: The Utah Landscapes of Hooper, Smith and Sjovold
Cudahy’s Gallery, Richmond, VA. Recent Work: Erling Sjovold and Ephraim Rubenstein
Reynolds Gallery, Westmont College–Santa Barbara, CA. Working From Life: The Figure in Drawing
Foyer Gallery, University of Western Sydney, Bankstown Campus, Sydney, Australia, Deep South
2000
Project , Wichita, KS. Tiny Works for the Ages
Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA. Biennial 2000. Juror: Marcos Ramirez-multi media artist, recently in Whitney Biennial.
Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT. Zeuxis-Still Life: The Human Presence
Awards and Residences
2011
Residency, Summer - Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA
2010
US Interior Department, National Park Service Artist Residency – Petrified Forest National Park
2008
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship, 2008
2006-07
Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, Space Program (year-long residency), New York, NY
2006
Ragdale Foundation Artist Residency, Lake Forest, IL
2005
Jessie Ball duPont Summer Seminar Fellowship 2005 - National Center for the Humanities, Durham, NC
Faculty Research Grant 2005, University of Richmond
2004
Faculty Research Grant 2004, University of Richmond
Global Partners Russia Summer Seminar/Mellon Foundation 2004 – Post-Soviet Art and Culture, Russia
Residency, Summer 2004 – U.C. Riverside – Sweeney Mountains Desert Research Center
2003
Residency, Summer 2003 – Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA.
2002
Faculty Research Grant 2002, University of Richmond
Mednick Fellowship, Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, 2002
2001
Residency, Summer 2001 – Center for Land Use Interpretation, L.A., CA (Wendover, UT site)
Summer Research Fellowship 2001, University of Richmond
Faculty Research Grant 2001, University of Richmond
2000
Residency, Summer 2000 – Center for Land Use Interpretation, L.A., CA (Wendover, UT site)
Summer Research Fellowship 2000, University of Richmond
Faculty Research Grant 2000, University of Richmond
Selected Teaching
1999-Present
University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, Associate Professor, Department of Art/Art History – Painting and Drawing
1997-99
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Assistant Professor – Visiting, Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts – Fundamentals Studio
1992-97
Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA. 1992 –1997
Professor (non-tenure institution), Painting Department - Painting and Drawing
“Place”, and how I construct it, grows more central to my paintings. Even when I paint odd narratives, place becomes an actor. Place is both exterior and interior, as topography and memory, physical and virtual, lost and found, and I carry the whole mess around like my paints. Whether it is because I have moved a lot in my life or because I am responding to the “here” is “elsewhere/everywhere” character of living remains a question for the paintings to sort out.
Specifically I think about displacement and the unifying properties of light/color. And, I think about Heraclitus’ quote, “No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”. The paradoxes of situation and identity I enjoy exploring through paint.
My paintings begin collage-like by piecing together various spaces. Passages include those from direct observation (plein air), from memory, abstract invention, and photography. The role that light/color plays is in how the seams of this puzzle are fused or left exposed. As the paintings evolve my concerns shift from an obvious cut-and-paste aesthetic towards one of attempted or partial unity. I say “attempted” or “partial” unity because desire is a subject of these paintings, my desire for staying connected within the given contingencies and mediations of living.
Backpacking has yielded to lawn mowing. Wonder remains. The raw beauty and chaos that I associate with the Western landscapes of my youth are masked by the refined spaces of my paintings and their suburban sensibility. Very much like my experiences of natural history dioramas and their staged dramas, my paintings similarly ride the edge between affirmation and loss, sympathy and alienation, fact and fiction, living and dead, revival and absurdity. Still, I am entranced every day by the elemental rising and setting of the sun.