Artist’s Bio
Painter and Printmaker John Hundley Greer moves fluidly between abstraction and representation; color and black and white; pattern and figuration. From the late 1980’s through the early 2000’s, Greer was known for dazzling geometric abstractions featuring recombinations of vibrantly colored shapes. Referencing hard-edged modernism, but with his hand visible in the mark-making, this period culminated in an extensive 2000 to 2004 series of paintings rendered on circular board which featured complex puzzlings of interlocked arched bars in thick primary colors.
In 2006 Greer took a sabbatical from his studio practice. He returned in 2008 with the series Night and Day at Home, painterly India ink drawings on paper which depict the interior of his apartment and the urban landscape of Jackson Heights, NY in varying lighting conditions, exploring the ways in which the natural world inhabits the built landscape. These introspective, keenly observed works open a window into the artist’s everyday life and read as intimate and autobiographical. They often feature not only physical windows that let in the light, but the windows of his computer screen, as well as his own past works which hang on the walls of his home. At first glance, these seem like a radical departure from his earlier geometric abstractions, yet they have in common a strategy of repeatedly returning to similar compositions, exploring subtle variations in form and color.
In 2016, while working on a series of high-contrast, black and white woodblock prints of arboreal form, color exploded back into Greer’s work. The blocky, red brick of New York apartment buildings glowing warm in the filtered sunlight is starkly contrasted by the vividly saturated yet moodily translucent greens of the trees in the courtyard. These vivacious gouache paintings represent a contemplative return to Greer’s earliest interiors and landscapes.
John Hundley Greer was born in 1953 in South Boston, Virginia. He discovered a propensity for making pictures at an early age, and was inspired by a three-month trip in 1973 to study European art, which ingrained in him an appreciation for the rich history of figurative work, and a critical yet playful skepticism towards the contemporary that continues to guide his practice. Greer completed a BFA in Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1975, and a BA in Art Education from the same institution in 1979. He moved to New York City, earned an MFA in Painting at Hunter College in 1984, and was an active member of the art community in the Lower East Side during a period of intense foment and cultural productivity.
Greer has exhibited his work at The Drawing Center, NY; The LAX Art Program, CA; George Billis Gallery, NY; The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, VA; Wooster Art Space, NY; Martina }{ Johnston, CA; and Galerie Marie-Louise Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland; as well as in numerous group exhibitions. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center (2016), and Golden Snail at the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, OR (2011). His work has been reviewed in Art in America, The New York Timesand Paper Magazine. Greer collaborated with Lambda Award recipient Henry Flesh on the illustrated novel Michael(Akashic Press, 2000), which tells the story of an older gay man who encounters an apocalyptic cult, a situation that echoes experiences in Greer’s life. In 2019, he will be exhibiting his newest paintings and prints at “The Prizery" in South Boston, VA.
Resume
John H. Greer
johnhundleygreer@gmail.com
Lives and works in New York City.
Selected Exhibitions
2019 John Greer, solo show, The Prizery, South Boston, VA
2013 Conversation Continuum, Martina} {Johnston Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2010 Night and Day, solo show, Martina} { Johnston, Berkeley, CA
2007 Installation Modernism, Los Angeles International Airport
2006 Tondi, group show curated by Michael Amy, Wooster Art
Space, New York City
2005 Solo show, George Billis Gallery LA, Culver City, CA
2004 Solo show, George Billis Gallery, New York City,
Fresh Assortment, group show at George Billis Gallery,
New York City
2003 Solo show, George Billis Gallery, New York City
2000 Illustrations for Michael by Henry Flesh, solo show, Tonic, New York City
1999 NewArtists, Barrett House Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY,
Ground Sight, New Landscape Painting, Elias Art Center, Santa Ana, CA
1997 The Art Exchange Show, Denise Gordon Co., New York City
1996 Whateva,Dru Arstark Gallery, New York City
American Topography, Galerie Marie- Louise Wirth, Zurich
1990 Selections 48, The Drawing Center, New York City
Residency
2016 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
2011 Golden Snail Artists’ Residency, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon
Education
1998--2006 Continuing education-illustration,digital media, Parsons School of Design &
The School of Visual Arts
1985 MFA-Painting, Hunter College, New York City
1979 BFA-Art Education, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
1975 BFA-Painting and Printmaking, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Teaching
1979--2000 Public and private schools in Savannah &
Manhattan
Bibliography
Thoreau in Love, Schuyler Bishop, cover illustration by John Greer 2013
“John Greer at George Billis,” David Ebony, Art in America, May 2005
“Directions: Shopping List: The Price of Oil,” Ken Johnson, New York Times, November 21, 2004
“Galleries: Chelsea/John Greer,” Ken Johnson, New York Times, February 21, 2003
“Local Native to Open New York Art Exhibit,” News and Record—South Boston/Halifax CountyVA,
January 23, 2003
Michael, Henry Flesh, illustrated by John Greer, Akashic Books, New York, NY, 2000
“A Walk on the Wild Side of Life,” Jude L. Schwendenwein, The Hartford Courant, December 12, 2000
“This is the End, My Friend,” Tom Cole, The Gay and Lesbian Review, January/February, 2001
“Michael,” Xantha Miller, Paper, February 2001