Key takeaways
- Wade Guyton's art combines digital printing techniques with abstract, minimalist compositions.
- Guyton's use of accessible technology, such as inkjet printers, creates unique, spontaneous visual effects.
- Recurring motifs in Guyton's work, like flames and lettering, convey a striking balance between automation and painterly qualities.
- Guyton's innovative practice has been widely exhibited and recognized, solidifying his place within the contemporary art canon.
- Guyton's work reflects the artist's engagement with the evolving relationship between technology and art in the digital age.
Wade Guyton: artist at the forefront of digital printing
Wade Guyton, born in 1972, is a post-conceptual American artist known for creating digital paintings on canvas using scanners and inkjet technology. He earned his BA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1995 and moved to New York in 1996. After being twice rejected by the Whitney Independent Study Program, he pursued his MFA at Hunter College from 1996 to 1998.
Guyton is a leading figure in contemporary art, celebrated for his groundbreaking use of digital printing and abstract forms. By blending inkjet printers, scanners, and computer software in his work, he has transformed the way we view the intersection of technology and art, producing striking and unique pieces that challenge traditional artistic methods. His art features motifs like flames, stripes, X's, and U's. These show his skill in using technology while keeping a painterly feel.
Guyton scans and changes found images into his own abstract, minimalist paintings. His use of digital printing breaks new ground in art. It shows how digital and physical media can blend together. His work, which includes appropriation and inkjet on canvas, makes him a key figure in digital art. Critics praise his innovative use of technology in abstract art. This has made him a pioneer in the field.
His works are in top museums' collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Wade Guyton's work has changed how we think about art-making. He has opened doors for a new generation of artists. They see the digital realm as a canvas for their creativity.
Deconstructing the digital aesthetic
Wade Guyton's art has evolved from traditional techniques to incorporating digital printing, using technology to expand artistic boundaries. He is now a leading figure in blending inkjet on canvas with the intersection of technology and art. Guyton began using digital printing in 2005, starting with an Epson Stylus Pro 9600 to print on canvas, a pivotal shift in his artistic journey. His innovative use of digital printing, combined with abstract art and minimalism, has established him as a prominent figure in contemporary art.
Guyton's work merges traditional and digital techniques, blurring the boundaries between the two. He creates his pieces by working on computer screens, scanning images, and digitally altering them before printing onto linen using an inkjet printer. This process results in striking abstract art characterized by his signature motifs, such as X's, U's, and flame-like elements that echo Photoshop effects. His minimalist style is unique, blending digital tools with familiar symbols and imagery.
In his work, Guyton embraces imperfections like drips and smears, incorporating them into his creative process to highlight the interplay between control and chance. This approach adds a distinctive character to his digital prints, showcasing both the precision and unpredictability of his method. His art questions what makes something original and who the real creator is. He also shows the beauty in digital printing's flaws and surprises.
Guyton keeps exploring the mix of digital and analog media. His bold, geometric paintings are very popular. In fact, some of his Epson UltraChrome inkjet on linen paintings have sold for over $1 million.
Today, Guyton leads in exploring the digital aesthetic. His art shows how digital printing and technology change art today. It makes us think about how these tools shape our art and culture.
Guyton's work is a big step forward in how we see and make art. By using digital printing, Guyton has shown artists new possibilities. His work shows us how technology can change art. It's a big leap for the art world and how we see art today.
Major exhibitions and collections
Wade Guyton's digital printing and abstract art have earned him international acclaim, with his works featured in leading galleries and museums worldwide. His art is part of prestigious collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; Kunstmuseum Basel; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Kunsthaus Zürich; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Princeton University Art Museum; Dallas Museum of Art; FRAC, Ile de France; and the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain in Geneva.
In 2003, Guyton exhibited at Power House Memphis, and from 2004 to 2014, his work was shown at Kunstverein Hamburg; Portikus, Frankfurt; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Belgium; Whitney Museum, New York; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Wiener Secession, Vienna; and Kunsthalle Zürich. In 2005, then-MoMA PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach displayed Guyton's inkjet panels alongside works by Seth Price and Josh Smith. In 2006, Daniel Birnbaum and Hans Ulrich Obrist featured Guyton/Walker's vibrant stacks of paint cans in the "Uncertain States of America" exhibition at the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo.
In 2009, Guyton and Kelley Walker were invited by Birnbaum to participate in the Venice Biennale, where they showcased canvases and drywall pieces at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. For his 2012 retrospective at the Whitney Museum, Guyton created partitions inspired by the temporary walls Marcel Breuer had designed for the building in the 1960s.
In 2019, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne organized a twenty-year retrospective of Guyton's work, marking his third exhibition at the museum. In 2023, Wade Guyton held several solo exhibitions, including Five Paintings, 2013-2015 at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, and exhibitions at Matthew Marks Gallery in New York and Chantal Crousel in Paris.
Guyton's art market success
Wade Guyton has made a significant impact in the art world, despite his unconventional approach. Initially, he struggled to find gallery representation, but he is now represented by Friedrich Petzel Gallery in Chelsea, New York. Known for his minimalist, technology-driven art, Guyton has attracted the attention of many collectors.
By 2013, his works were regularly selling for over $1 million at auctions and privately. In 2013, an untitled Epson UltraChrome inkjet on linen from 2005 set an auction record for the artist when it sold for $2.4 million at Christie’s New York. In 2014, his flame painting “Untitled (Fire, Red/Black U)” (2005) sold for $3.525 million at Christie’s to a phone bidder. Displeased with the high prices expected, Guyton printed multiple copies of the painting and posted them on Instagram just days before the auction. The painting was rumored to have a $4 million guarantee.
FAQ
What is Wade Guyton known for?
Wade Guyton is an artist known for blending technology and art. He creates abstract works using digital printing, like inkjet on canvas.
What is Guyton's artistic process?
Guyton uses computers and printers to make his art. He takes found imagery and turns it into striking, simple compositions. This challenges old art ways.
How has Guyton's work been recognized?
His work has been shown all over and is in top museums. This shows his big impact on today's art.
What is Guyton's studio setup?
His studio has computer stations and a big Epson printer. There, he makes his abstract, simple paintings.
How does Guyton use digital technology in his art?
He scans images, like book pages, and changes them on his computer. Then, he prints them on linen with a big inkjet printer.
How has Guyton's artistic style evolved?
His style has changed, but his focus on tech and art stays the same. He uses digital printing for his abstract, simple paintings.
Where has Guyton's art been exhibited and collected?
His paintings have been in big shows at places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They're also in the collections of top museums.
How successful has Guyton's art been in the market?
Wade Guyton's art has done well, even though it's different. Many famous collectors buy his work.
How would it be described the digital aesthetic of Guyton's art?
His art has a special digital look. It breaks old art rules with its patterns, Benday dots, and precise feel.
Selena Mattei
