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Born in 1951 in Los Angeles, Scot Heywood has pursued a course of non-representational, geometric abstract painting for more than 30 years. A self-taught artist, Heywood's works are indebted to the origins of geometric abstraction in such artists as Kasimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian, though he has crafted a thoroughly personal interpretation. The artist’s exquisite attention to detail and presentation are evident in the careful placement of individual panels, as well as the refined diagonal layering of paint.
A viewer would be mistaken to consider Heywood’s paintings to be standard examples of the minimalist monochrome. His work invites extended contemplation, and engages with viewers on visual, physical and conceptual levels. David Pagel of the Los Angeles Times has written on the experience of regarding Heywood’s work, explaining that, “To stand before one of these paintings, each of which is the size of a generously scaled doorway, is to find your whole body involuntarily adjusting itself to the subtly out-of-whack geometry of Heywood’s art.”
It is this disorienting geometry that characterizes Scot Heywood’s art. Small but unexpected asymmetries and careful “notches” disrupt the smooth rectangularity of his wood and canvas surfaces, creating a dialogue between form and color that implicates the space of the gallery. Daniella Walsh for THE Magazine described the sophisticated game being played here when she wrote that Heywood’s works “establish a new perceptual reality, incorporating the wall as negative space.”
In this way, the walls of the gallery become part of the work, functioning as more than a passive backdrop for the paintings. The relationship between the walls, the works, and the viewers are all held up for examination. In this atmosphere, the works take on architectural qualities. According to Jody Zellen of Artweek, they then allow for an exploration of “the relationships between presence and absence with respect to a given architectural space.”
Scot has shown frequently in Southern California since the late 1970s. His work has been featured in over a dozen solo shows, and is often included in significant group exhibitions such as Marks and Movement: Five Painters at the Santa Monica College Barret Gallery in 2011. His paintings are also represented in numerous collections, including the Frederick Weisman Foundation.
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Selected Group Exhibitions
2014 Joe Goode, Scot Heywood, John M. Miller, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach,
California
2013 Polyform: Larry Bell, Scot Heywood, Gustavo Pérez, and Mark Pharis, Frank Lloyd
Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2012 California Abstract Painting 1952-2011 (Curated by James Hayward),
Woodbury University Nan Rae Gallery, Burbank, California
2011 Less is More, Subliminal Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Marks and Movement: Five Painters, Edith Baumann, James Hayward,
Scot Heywood, John M. Miller & Ed Moses, Santa Monica College Pete and
Susan Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica, California, (catalogue)
Three Abstract Painters: John McLaughlin, James Hayward, Scot
Heywood, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2009 Lita Albuquerque, Scot Heywood and Andy Moses, Peter Blake Gallery,
Laguna Beach, California
2008 Planes and Surfaces, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Fifteen Years/Fifteen Artists, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California
Color Blind: Black, White and Grey in Contemporary Art, Cardwell Jimmerson
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
2007 Black and White, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Monochrome Painting: Some Versions from Ad Reinhardt to Present, Cardwell
Jimmerson Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
West Coast Abstraction, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California
2006 A Little So Cal Abstraction, Mandarin Gallery, Los Angeles, California (catalogue)
That’s Hot, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Spring Fever, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2000 Luminous, Ikon, Ltd./Kay Richards Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
Simply Complex: Monochromatic Paintings from LA, Dorsky Gallery, New York
2000, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, California
1999 Under 500/Intimate Abstract Painting, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles,
California
1998 Starting with McLaughlin, Patricia Faure Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1997 Abstraction in Los Angeles, New Image Art, Los Angeles, California
1996 Red Painting, Newspace, Los Angeles, California
1994 Plane/Structures, Otis Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles,
California
In Plane Sight: Abstract Painting in LA Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, Texas
1992 New L.A. Abstraction, Art Gallery, College of the Mainlands, Texas City, Texas
Group Show, Burnett Miller Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1991 Group Show, Kiyo Higashi Gallery Los Angeles, California
1989 Art and Soul, Pence Gallery Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles Current Abstract Painting, Marc Richards Gallery, Los Angeles,
California
1988 Artist's Liaison, Major Chicago Exhibition, Chicago, Illinois
Primary Abstraction: Los Angeles, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, California
1987 New Now, Los Angeles, California
1985 Black and White Drawings from the David Nellis Collection, CSU, Los Angeles,
California
Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, Newspace, Los Angeles, California
Divisions: Seven Los Angeles Painters, LA Institute of Contemporary Art, Los
Angeles, California
1984 New Clear Painting, Newspace, Los Angeles, California
1983 New Abstract Painters from Los Angeles, San Francisco Art Institute, San
Francisco, California
1982 In the Tradition, Group Studio Show, Los Angeles, California
1980 Abstract Painting, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles,
California
1979 Group Exhibition, Vanguard Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013 A Survey of Large Paintings 2006-2013, Santa Monica College Pete and Susan
Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica, California
A Survey of Small Paintings, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2012 Polarities, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2009 New Paintings, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California
2008 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California
2005 Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art, Santa Monica, California
2003 Chac Mool Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2000 Chac Mool Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1998 Chac Mool Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1995 Ace Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California
1994 Ace Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California
1992 Ace Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California
1990 Kiyo Higashi Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1989 Newspace, Los Angeles, California
1987 Newspace, Los Angeles, California
1986 Newspace, Los Angeles, California
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