RECENT WORK
ABOUT
"Mr. Gray's Symbolism has a strong spiritual subtext. Even when he paints something as mundane as a hillside covered with scrubby bushes, it's shot through with retribution, redemption and, less assuredly, grace. This is what makes him special-- there's no seperation between the dutiful naturalist and the visionary. Indeed, to call Mr. Gray a "visionary" is to inflate the quiet rectitude of his fantasies. He doesn't force things when giving body to his ostrich riders; they're as real to him as the air he breathes."
-Mario Naves
New York Observer
I took a trip to Florida years ago, which inspired a series of paintings of the Everglades, including the tropical foliage and swampy terrain inhabited by reptiles such as snakes, alligators, and turtles. This trip commenced an ongoing thematic interest in animals, the decay of wildlife and the transformation of the environment.
Over the years, I have continued this visual research of creatures and animals with regular visits to the Bronx Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History. By transforming the elements into a fantasy world where floating parrots, flying mandolins, and cactus-headed figures evolve into one another, I am creating my own world through self-discovery, as both a metaphor and symbol of the limited life-blood of the planet.
My paintings are a slow journey into the what’s known yet unclear in our inner worlds. Just like a dream, all the elements can never fully be realized, yet with time, new discoveries are illuminated.
Born and raised in Wayland, MA, Owen Gray moved to New York in 1975 to study with Nicholas Carone and Leland Bell at The Studio School. The New York Times critic Ken Johnson, The New York Observer critic Mario Naves and The New Republic critic Jed Perl have all reviewed his paintings. He currently splits his time between his home in Tribeca, New York City and his studio in Hoboken, New Jersey.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 A World of Calm and Chaos, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY 2023
2019 Habitat in Peril, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
2016 Owen Gray: The World of Darknes and Light, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
2014 Owen Gray: Florida Landscape Paintings, Gadsden Arts Center, Quincy, FL
2012 Owen Gray: Look, Look Down, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Owen Gray: Paintings of Aquatic Confrontations, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Owen Gray: Nature versus Nature, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Owen Gray: Paintings from the Southwest and Tropics, Blue Mountain Gallery, NY, NY
1999 Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
1995 Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
1991 Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
1978 Selena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
1978 Woods Hole Gallery, Woods Hole, MA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 Salena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
2014 National Juried Exhibition, First Street Gallery, New York, NY
2014 Shifting Ecologies, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2013 Peaceable Kingdom, Watson-Macrae Gallery, Sanibel, FL
2012 New York, New York, Watson-Macrae Gallery, Sanibel, FL
2009 National Juried Show, First Street Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Alumni Selections, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2006 Parels, Petit Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2006 Halcyon Days, Kerrigan Campbell Arts and Projects, New York, NY
2003 Alumni Selections, New York Studio School, New York, NY
2002 Three Perspectives on Landscape, National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC
2001 Verticals, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Vanities and Landscape, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1997 The Painting Center, New York, NY
1997 Chelsea Gallery, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
1997 Sleeth Gallery, Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, WV
1997 Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
1995 Alumni Selections, New York Studio School, New York, NY
1995 Allegories, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY
1992 Falmouth Artists Guild, Falmouth, MA
1991 Alumni Selections, New York Studio School, New York, NY
1989 LANDSCAPE, A Travelogue Painted from Memory, Imagination or Reality, Ruth
Siegal Gallery LTD, New York, NY
1989 SoHo Center for the Visual Arts, New York, NY
1987 Selections 38, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
1986 Invitational, Allen Frumkin Gallery, New York, NY
1986 Eccentric Drawings, Allen Frumkin Gallery, New York, NY
1986 Short Stories curated by Judd Tully and Carla Van den Houten, One Penn Plaza, New York, NY
1983 Woods Hole Gallery, Woods Hole, MA
1982 Self Portraits, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1980 Alumni Selections, New York Studio School, New York, NY
1976 Woods Hole Gallery, Woods Hole, MA
1974 Falmouth Artists Guild, Falmouth, MA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Perl, Jed. "In Sickness and in Health," The New Republic, August 2012
Johnson, Ken. "Owen Gray: Paintings from the Southwest and Tropics," The New York
Times, September 13, 2002
Naves, Mario. "An Eccentric Animal Kingdom Shot through with Symbolism," The New
York Observer, September 12, 2002
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2013 Helicker-LaHotan Foundation Residency, Cranberry Isles, ME
2006 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Amherst, VA
2005 Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT
2002 Santa Fe Art Institute Residency, Santa Fe, NM
2002 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Amherst, VA
2002 Ragdale Residency, Lake Forest, IL
1999 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Amherst, VA
1997 Blue Mountain Center Residency, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
1997 Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT
1994 Blue Mountain Center Residency, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
1993 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Amherst, VA
1992 Blue Mountain Center Residency, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
1992 1st prize Honorable Mention, Falmouth Artist Guild, Falmouth, MA
1974 Skowhegan School of Painting Residency, Skowhegan, ME
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Gerald Piltzer Collection, Chesieres Switzerland
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Chemical Bank, CT
MICA Corporation, Shelton, CT
NYC Cultural Affairs Building, New York, NY Juvenile Court Building, Hartford, CT
Vera and Albert List
Jim and Marilyn Simons Jessica Bourgeois Howard Zinn
Dr. George Wald
Sonny Rollins
EDUCATION
1977 New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York, NY
1975 BFA, Swain School of Design, New Bedford, MA
1973 Portland School of Fine and Applied Art, Portland, ME