Gregory Euclide


Gregory Euclide is an American contemporary artist and teacher who lives and works outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Born in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and raised there before moving to Minnesota, his rich natural surroundings fostered an interest in and connection to the environment that lasts to this day.

Education

Gregory Euclide holds an M.F.A. in Studio Art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minnesota, a B.F.A. in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and a B.A.E. in Secondary Art Education from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Career

Gregory Euclide creates sculptural relief works, paintings, and installations. His works are evocative, non-traditional mixed media assemblages which resemble landscape paintings but defy categorization. While Euclide's works explore ideas surrounding nature and the human experience, they remain void of the human figure; according to Euclide, "When you see a human figure you identify with the form, what they are doing, and that becomes the emphasis. By showing just the land without humans I'm able to show it as it is and what they've left behind." Euclide juxtaposes in his work naturally occurring, organic matter with artificial, man-made materials, some of which are found objects, and through the use of bent and shaped paper introduces three-dimensional topographical elements. Through his exploration of the landscape tradition, within both his self-contained works and largescale installations, by incorporating architectural elements Euclide reminds the viewer that though many people associate charming imagery such as barns and farm fields with nature, these structures and spaces are engineered, and even when looking at a remote pastoral scene, it is impossible to escape the human fingerprint. For the exhibition Otherworldly: Artist Dioramas and Small Spectacles, which opened June 2011 at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, Euclide created a room-sized installation, a consuming 7×5-foot landscape painting in a gilded gold frame with several dioramas extending across the floor of the gallery. In 2009, Euclide did a large "capture" work with a 55-gallon drum taken from Clear Creek Canyon, a tourist destination near Denver, and displayed it at the David B. Smith Gallery with a life-sized guardrail representing a scenic pull-off. Works by Gregory Euclide have been exhibited at the Foothills Art Center in Golden, Colorado, the Pulse Art Fair in Miami, Florida, The Joseph Gross Gallery at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design as well a site-specific installation for the inauguration of the Denver Biennial of the Americas.
In 2011, Euclide collaborated with the Justin Vernon of Bon Iver to create the band's acclaimed album artwork for their 2011 album Bon Iver, winner of the Grammy for Best New Artist.
Euclide created beautiful detailed temporary ink designs on classroom dry erase boards, for relaxation during his 25-minute lunch break, while teaching high school students in the Minnesota River Valley and Prior Lake, and then wiped them clean. He used classroom objects lying around including whiteboard erasers, paper towels, spray bottles, brushes and Japanese Sumi ink. He wanted to show his students the possible achievements that happen in a short space of time and the impermanence of existence. "In our culture, there is a strong emphasis on reproduction and the original seems less important. My students were shocked when I would erase the original, because they saw it firsthand, and they were disturbed that it was destroyed. People who do not see the original have no problem only looking at it on a screen or as a print, but once you see the original it is hard to let it go or believe that it could be destroyed." Euclide sees the concept of accepting impermanence to society's impact on the natural world. When he casually wiped away his art creations, the students reacted with extreme dismay making Euclide decide to release a series of the temporary ephemeral artworks.
"Laid Down & Wiped Away - a special edition of ten portfolios chronicling Mr Euclide’s experiments on his classroom whiteboard", will be available from 10 July.

Collections

Gregory Euclides work is featured in the collections of the Progressive Corporation, Flint Institute of Arts, Microsoft Corporation, United States Embassy in Sarajevo, Wellington Management Company, Dex Media, Nordstrom, and Health Partners.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2011
2010
2009
2008