Guy Overfelt
Encyclopedia
Guy Overfelt is a conceptual artist based in San Francisco and Bolinas, California. He works with various media including sculpture
, performance
, photography
, video
and drawing
.
Overfelt received a B.F.A from the Maryland Institute College of Art
in 1994 and an M.F.A. from San Francisco Art Institute
in 1996.
Best known for his burnout works made using a 1977 Pontiac Trans AM as an artist's utensil and subject matter, San Francisco-based Guy Overfelt’s projects are raucous explorations of the American Dream via car culture. His body of work presents a special mix of printmaking, performance and sculpture that investigates the modern industrial complex by expropriating the symbolic brands of automotive corporations.
Guy Overfelt’s work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums including the Oakland Museum of California; Guangzhou Triennial, China; St. Mary's University, Halifax, Canada; The Havana Biennial, Cuba; Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York; Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, and White Columns, New York City. His work has been acquired by the Berkeley Museum Collection and the JPMorgan Chase Collection, as well as private collections. His work has been reviewed and featured in numerous publications, including the New Yorker, The New York Times, Art Net, Art Papers, Index Magazine, Paper Magazine, Time Out, Kobe Japan, Time Out, New York, Boing Boing, SF Guardian, Surface Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as other publications and catalogs. His work was featured in the documentary film ‘Burning Rubber’ which recently aired on Bravo.
Project Evidence, White Columns
, White Room, NY, NY (1997)
SBMA, Bronwyn Keenan Gallery
, NY, NY (1998)
Burn-Out Trial, San Francisco Hall of Justice, SF, CA (1998)
The World #54, The Poetry Project, Taser Project, Summer (repro). (1998)
Game Over, Bronwyn Keenan Gallery
, NY, NY (1999)
Free Beer, Refusalon Gallery, SF, CA (1999)
Cruzen USA, Jack Hanley Gallery, SF, CA (2000)
Deluxe, Refusalon Gallery, SF, CA (with Tony Labat and Mads Lynnerup) (2000)
Destroy, First Vienna Austrotel Contemporary Art Fair, Vienna, Austria (2000)
Sons of Liberty Tour, Charas/ El Bohio, NY, NY (with Sabbra Cadabra / worlds greatest Black Sabbath tribute band) (2001)
Bongzilla, Detour 888 Gallery, SF, CA (curated series Prime Time / Tony Labat) (2001)
PowerSlave, eyelevel gallery, Halifax, N.S., Canada (2002)
Nova G.O., Linc Art, SF, CA (with Nils Nova) (2004)
Highway To Hell, Garage Biennale, SF, CA (with Heather Sparks) (2008)
Freebird, Oakland Museum of California
, Oakland, CA (2010)
Ever Wash, Ever Gold Gallery, San Francisco (2011)
Achieving Failure: Gym Culture 2000, Thread Waxing Space, NY, NY (curator: Bill Arning) (2000)
Wine, Women and Wheels, White Columns
, NY, NY (curator: Paul Ha) (2000)
Action Jackson, Silverstein Gallery, NY, NY (curator: David Hunt) (2001)
Marked, Hunter College
, NY, NY (curator: Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson (2001)
American Dream: A Survey, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY, NY (2003)
Performance Anxiety, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
, Berkeley, CA (2004)
Burning Rubber, St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (2007)
A THIN SLICE, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, SF, CA (2009)
Warhol Revisted?, De Young Museum + OFF Space, Oakland, CA (2009)
"Radical Light: That Little Red Dot", Artists Television Access, SF, CA (2011)
(presented by SF Cinemathque and Berkley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive) (2011)
Who Dares Wins, Butcher's Daughter Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI (curator: Monica Bowman) (2011)
Spread - Conceptualism Then and Now, SOMArts Gallery, SF, CA (2011)
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
, photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
and drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
.
Overfelt received a B.F.A from the Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art is an art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation...
in 1994 and an M.F.A. from San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
in 1996.
Best known for his burnout works made using a 1977 Pontiac Trans AM as an artist's utensil and subject matter, San Francisco-based Guy Overfelt’s projects are raucous explorations of the American Dream via car culture. His body of work presents a special mix of printmaking, performance and sculpture that investigates the modern industrial complex by expropriating the symbolic brands of automotive corporations.
Guy Overfelt’s work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums including the Oakland Museum of California; Guangzhou Triennial, China; St. Mary's University, Halifax, Canada; The Havana Biennial, Cuba; Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York; Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, and White Columns, New York City. His work has been acquired by the Berkeley Museum Collection and the JPMorgan Chase Collection, as well as private collections. His work has been reviewed and featured in numerous publications, including the New Yorker, The New York Times, Art Net, Art Papers, Index Magazine, Paper Magazine, Time Out, Kobe Japan, Time Out, New York, Boing Boing, SF Guardian, Surface Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as other publications and catalogs. His work was featured in the documentary film ‘Burning Rubber’ which recently aired on Bravo.
Notable Solo Exhibitions
Four Real Walls, Four Walls Gallery, SF, CA (1997)Project Evidence, White Columns
White Columns
White Columns is New York City’s oldest alternative non-profit space and one of its most prestigious. White Columns is known as a show case for up and coming artists....
, White Room, NY, NY (1997)
SBMA, Bronwyn Keenan Gallery
Bronwyn Keenan Gallery
Bronwyn Keenan Gallery was an art gallery located at #3 Crosby Street, in the SoHo district of New York City. Run by New Jersey-born Brownwyn Keenan, the gallery showed emerging artists from the mid to late 1990s and into the early 2000s...
, NY, NY (1998)
Burn-Out Trial, San Francisco Hall of Justice, SF, CA (1998)
The World #54, The Poetry Project, Taser Project, Summer (repro). (1998)
Game Over, Bronwyn Keenan Gallery
Bronwyn Keenan Gallery
Bronwyn Keenan Gallery was an art gallery located at #3 Crosby Street, in the SoHo district of New York City. Run by New Jersey-born Brownwyn Keenan, the gallery showed emerging artists from the mid to late 1990s and into the early 2000s...
, NY, NY (1999)
Free Beer, Refusalon Gallery, SF, CA (1999)
Cruzen USA, Jack Hanley Gallery, SF, CA (2000)
Deluxe, Refusalon Gallery, SF, CA (with Tony Labat and Mads Lynnerup) (2000)
Destroy, First Vienna Austrotel Contemporary Art Fair, Vienna, Austria (2000)
Sons of Liberty Tour, Charas/ El Bohio, NY, NY (with Sabbra Cadabra / worlds greatest Black Sabbath tribute band) (2001)
Bongzilla, Detour 888 Gallery, SF, CA (curated series Prime Time / Tony Labat) (2001)
PowerSlave, eyelevel gallery, Halifax, N.S., Canada (2002)
Nova G.O., Linc Art, SF, CA (with Nils Nova) (2004)
Highway To Hell, Garage Biennale, SF, CA (with Heather Sparks) (2008)
Freebird, Oakland Museum of California
Oakland Museum of California
Oakland Museum of California or Oakland Museum is a museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California located in Oakland, California....
, Oakland, CA (2010)
Ever Wash, Ever Gold Gallery, San Francisco (2011)
Notable Group Exhibitions
Basel Art Fair, Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland (curator: Daniella Salvioni) (1998)Achieving Failure: Gym Culture 2000, Thread Waxing Space, NY, NY (curator: Bill Arning) (2000)
Wine, Women and Wheels, White Columns
White Columns
White Columns is New York City’s oldest alternative non-profit space and one of its most prestigious. White Columns is known as a show case for up and coming artists....
, NY, NY (curator: Paul Ha) (2000)
Action Jackson, Silverstein Gallery, NY, NY (curator: David Hunt) (2001)
Marked, Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, NY, NY (curator: Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson (2001)
American Dream: A Survey, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY, NY (2003)
Performance Anxiety, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is associated with the University of California at Berkeley. The director is Lawrence Rinder who was appointed in 2008.-Collection:...
, Berkeley, CA (2004)
Burning Rubber, St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (2007)
A THIN SLICE, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, SF, CA (2009)
Warhol Revisted?, De Young Museum + OFF Space, Oakland, CA (2009)
"Radical Light: That Little Red Dot", Artists Television Access, SF, CA (2011)
(presented by SF Cinemathque and Berkley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive) (2011)
Who Dares Wins, Butcher's Daughter Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI (curator: Monica Bowman) (2011)
Spread - Conceptualism Then and Now, SOMArts Gallery, SF, CA (2011)
External links
- Smith, Roberta, Prop Fiction
- Guy Overfelt on Artadia.org
- Further information from Happenstand