Technique & Process

Carved Wood Painting

When Gaugy came to America in 1966, his interest and advanced training were in sculpture. Although he had studied painting, painting did not adequately serve his needs to explore form and movement. Like many sculptors, he regarded paintings as inhibition. "A sculptor cannot hide," he would say, meaning that in sculpture, essence is always apparent, and cannot be concealed or hidden by repainting, or by technical "tricks".

But America in the 60s was only beginning to acquire a broad taste for art. The ownership of paintings was becoming more common, but the market for sculpture was largely limited to city monuments, bronze eagles and western imagery. Gaugy had other images to share, the need to sculpt, and a family to support. The artist focused his creativity and training on finding a solution. In this fertile and determined ground, carved paintings were born.

Gaugy had always loved the warm, organic nature of wood. As a child, he had helped his grandfather carve cathedral doors. As a graduate student, he had explored greater intricacies at the School of Woodcarving in Oberammergau, Germany. He felt wood as a material was somehow attuned to the life-affirming messages he wanted to convey.

Early pieces were deeply carved with traditional bas-relief techniques into slabs of walnut that Gaugy glued and doweled and finished with stain. The sculptor was sculpting, but the work could be wall-hung. People could find a place for it in their homes and buildings. The artist's problem was solved.

But only the initial problem. With each new work, new challenges appeared. How could thisform be better shown, that emotion better conveyed? The essential purpose of all artmaking, search and growth, immediately took hold. It has never stopped nor slowed.

Through the years, carving and painting techniques have evolved tremendously. Current work is not immediately apparent as wood, until touched and examined. Realism in imagery has given way to a powerful and distinctive style developed to serve both the medium and the artist's message. The carved lines have remained and the preoccupation with form and movement have not diminished. This has created a philosophy of structure and composition which Jean-Claude Gaugy, as "founder," has christened Linear Expressionism. Lines form the basis of all the works, defining, guiding, creating emotion through rhythm and complex juxtapositions.

"I have done things with wood that have never been done before," says Gaugy. "When I die, I hope it will be said that I have moved the boundaries of art just a bit."