John Gutoskey's "Magic Theater"

Gutoskey’s art boxes embody the interior worlds of an extrovert; meticulously organized in overlays of “found” imagery, color-wheel fancy and fractured multiples that include Renaissance portraiture, sacred heart iconograph, saints, and Buddhism. The body of Gutoskey’s assemblages proclaim miniature universes with the circus as his latest obsession.

Flea market and cathedral reliquary collide. Shrine and game board vie for attention; enigmatic messages lurk beneath happy coincidences and bizarre juxtapositions in an attempt to make some sense out of all the chaos from the detritus of the world.

Exploring the media of assemblages, “found” objects and shadow boxes, he was inspired by the works of Joseph Cornell, Betye Saar, and other assemblage artists as well as Pop Art, ancient art, Mexican, Brazilian, African, and Italian art, outsider art, sideshow graphics, Art Brut, the Surrealists and religious art to evolve his own unmistakable style: a perfect mirror for his gregarious, highly animated personality. The obsessive collector in Gutoskey met the trained visual artist half-way. In a short time, the home he shares with Sparling, his partner, was filled with a dazzling collection of “art boxes.”

The artist plays in the rarified universe of illusion and fragmented narrative, presenting his own vision of a personal “magic theater” that speaks to the imagination and the spirit with wit, humor and a multiform but coherent sense of courage.

To see more of Gutoskey's work, see his website: www.johngutoskeystudio.com