Gregg Bautista to contribute to the “Throwback Thursday”
Gregg: -> “Rome, as a location, was an interesting event in my life as a growing artist. Experiencing the fulfillment of seeing master works in person was something I couldn’t even imagine before receiving my acceptance letter to RAP, but attending the program had me in constant awe with the privilege of being able to draw and paint from so many paintings and sculptures that I had only viewed in print, my laptop, or phone screen. Conversely, being in Rome also completely deconstructed my process of painting. Viewing art and life, constant exchange with other art makers and enthusiasts, being a foreigner in a new world and allowing myself to be lost and assimilate through experience with locals, every day made me question who I wanted to be as an artist, as well as how and why art was important to me. Even art that I did not expect to impact me, particularly the frescos in Museo Massimo, ruins, and Bernini sculptures along bridges, lead me to challenge my practice in the moment. Our exercises in drawing and painting allowed me to deconstruct my own work once I returned to NJ, freeing me from the confines of my previous modes of painting and giving me the gift of being more exploratory and taking risks.
Since Rome, I have graduated with my BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, with a concentration in painting and minor in Art History. I participated in some local group shows around Mason Gross as well. For the next year after graduating, I continued my practice out of Gateway Project Spaces in Newark, NJ and as participated in public installation work with creating mural work. I have also engaged in curatorial work and collaborated with Mason Gross in organizing exhibitions post-graduation. I’ve participated in group shows, as well as a solo exhibition in Newark. I’ve recently moved studios (still in Newark), and am preparing for another solo exhibition in Newark, as well as preparing to apply for residencies. I hope to continue exhibiting as well as attain my MFA in the coming years”.
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RomeArtProgram: Art as Power