Peter Gourfain

Peter Gourfain, a Chicago native and graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, has had an impressive number of solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. Most noteable are his solo exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York and the Chazen (formerly the Elvehjem) Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin. The artist is the subject of a large and detailed catalog from the latter exhibit.

Although Gourfain prefers the existing ambiguities of his images rather than supplied meaning, a sociopolitical ambiguous Americana is present in many of his prints. The stylized images, dark contrast and heavy line lend gravitas to the subjects. In Gourfain’s prints, Romanesque figures and objects mingle. Images emerge from each other and body parts from new objects and characters, delineated by text and the occasional splash of color. Heads roll and shadows loom in the landscape as figures intertwine and repel amongst ladders and chairs, creating a firm uncertainty, to which the artist does not comment.

Renowned for his terracotta, bronzes and carvings into old wooden objects, the dimensionality of his sculpture is retained in the carving of his prints. Gourfain’s woodblock and linoleum print work exemplifies the style, skill, poignancy and humor for which he is known.

Gourfain has received several high-profile fellowships and commissions for both his sculptural and print works. His art is included in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Based in New York, Peter Gourfain continues to create darkly humorous and thought-provoking images in several media.

EDUCATION: 
1956 – B.F.A., School of the Art Institute of Chicago

SELECTED SOLO GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 
2005 - Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
- Alley Culture, Detroit MI
2002 - Elvehjem Museum, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 
1998 - Greenwich House Pottery Gallery, New York, NY
1990 - Objects Gallery, Chicago, IL (also 1985)
1989 - Patricia Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1987 - Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, “Roundabout and Other Works” 
1982 - MOA Gallery, New York, NY 
1978 - Cusalon Gallery, New York, NY 
1973 - Bykert Gallery, New York, NY (also 1971, 1969, 1967)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 
1999 - Neuberger Museum, SUNY, Purchase, NY (with Barry Bartlett and Arnold Zimmerman)
1988 - Big Little Sculpture, Williams College Museum, Williamstown, MA 
- Committed to Print, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1983 - The New Sculpture, Patricia Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY 
1974 - Sculpture Installation, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY 
- Monumenta, Sculpture with Grosvenor, Smith, Oldenburg, Newport, RI 
1970 - Using Walls, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY 
1968 - Toward a Romantic Minimalism, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 
- Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY 
1967 - Corcoran Biennale, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC 
1966 - Systemic Painting, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

FELLOWSHIPS / GRANTS / COMMISSIONS: 
1999 - New York, Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for the Arts – Printmaking 
1998 - Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY, Fate of the Earth, installation of 24 bronze reliefs in museum wall
1997 - Cathedral of St. John the Devine, NYC, Fate of the Earth, installation of 24 bronze reliefs in cathedral wall
1996 - Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY, bronze medallion on front of the building 
1992 - National Park Service, Bronze Stele on the Canalway, Lowell, MA 
1990 - New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art, two bronzes for P.S. 6, Brooklyn, NY 
1979 - National Endowment for the Arts, 10 ceramic urns for University of Ohio, Columbus, OH 
1978 - New York State Council for the Arts, CAPS grant for sculpture 
1975 - National Endowment for the Arts, sculpture 
- Guggenheim Fellowship, sculpture

TEACHING / RESIDENCIES: 
2005 - Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, visiting artist, printmaking
2005-1998 - Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY, teacher, ceramic sculpture 
1998 - University of California, Davis, CA, visiting artist, ceramic sculpture <
- Penland School, Penland, NC, teacher, printmaking 
1996 - Penland School, Penland, NC, teacher, ceramic sculpture 
1993 - Rhode Isalnd School of Design, Providence, RI, visiting artist, ceramics 
1991 - Skowhegan School, Skowhegan, ME, professor, sculpture 
1990 - Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, visiting artist, ceramic sculpture 
- Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, visiting artist, ceramics 
1980 - Cranbrook Academy, Bloomfield Hills, MI, visiting artist, sculpture 
- Kent State University, OH, visiting professor, sculpture (summer program) 
1974 - Cranbrook Academy, Bloomfield Hills, MI, visiting artist, sculpture 
1969-1970 - School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, teacher, sculpture