Parallel Evolution
Gonzo: An artist trajectory in three phases
November 10, 2023-January 7, 2024
Celebrating the three phases of Gonzo’s life and work that punctuates the pivotal role he has played in our history and our story.
About Parallel Evolution
Curated by Louise Martorano and Robin Alli Gallite.
Part of our RedLine at 15 exhibition program.
To say that Gonzo is prolific feels like an understatement. His artistic practice is part survival and part an intrinsic need to create. Gonzo’s work exists on a continuum where ideas flow from one to the next in a sustained meditation. The repetition of images, symbols, and gestures are cumulative, forecasting endless possibilities and continued progress.
Gonzo’s early works were created while serving a two-year prison sentence. His pencil drawings filled endless 8 ½ x 11 sheets of paper in three-ring binders, speaking a language of abstraction and connection. Self-taught, these intense drawing sessions which amounted to hundreds of pages became his therapy, recovery, and method to remain himself. The therapeutics of art became sacred.
“I went from living a life that I couldn’t talk about, to one I can’t stop talking about.”
In 2008, the RedLine community crossed paths with Gonzo through the REACH program, which offers a supportive space and supplies for artists that are unhoused, experiencing financial hardship, and/or are in recovery. Gonzo not only accepted the invitation, but soon became the biggest recruiter to the program after recognizing the positive change that art had in his own evolution.
From the program’s first participant to its greatest ambassador, Gonzo is the heart and foundation of the REACH program. The evolution of the program, the individual, and the work ran parallel.
“I find it hard to separate the individual with the work. They are inextricably tied together, as many artists are.”
Photo credit: Kyla Fear
Gonzo describes his work in three phases: Experimentation & Identity (2006-2013), Realization and Visualization (2014-2019), and Uncertainty and Resurgence (2020-2023).
Experimentation & Identity (2006-2013): Experimentation of media and creation of his own language in his work. A life of double identity, one inside the walls of RedLine and one in the street.
Realization and Visualization (2014-2019): An embrace of his artist identity as an “Outsider Artist” and a death of his other self. In this movement, “social statements of humanity” entered into his artistic avatar in the form of ornamentation and the representation of a rib cage.
Uncertainty and Resurgence (2020-2023): Out of a place of fear came gratitude and deep dedication to his work and his community; a need to survive through endless transitions.
In 2023, RedLine is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Parallel Evolution celebrates the three phases of Gonzo’s life and work that punctuates the pivotal role Gonzo has played in our history and our story. We want to honor his generous artistic nature, unquestionable commitment to his work, and his enormous importance in our community.
“Early on, as an artist, I had issues with a double identity: a street identity, and an identity as an emerging artist. I realized that the ‘place’ I go while in my creative process was sacred and a place of solitude. I’m using what I achieved through my art to communicate my truth. I discovered art to be the portal to a wonderful existence in which I’ve transformed into the person I want to be. ”
Opening Reception for Parallel Evolution
Image credit: Kyla Fear Photography
PBS Newshour: Artists who have lived on the street get space to create
Parallel Evolution Artist Statement
Gonzo’s work documents the transformation of self and community.
For Gonzo, creating is compulsive. He always creates with this principle in mind: “To envision, dream, and create without fear of judgment.”
As a self-identified Outsider Artist, he creates and is drawn to art that is “uncooked” by culture, unaffected by fashion, unmoved by artistic standards, and engendered outside the influence of society. He relishes the euphoria of creation, a space that he enjoys every day.
It all starts with drawing. Within his stack of sketchbooks, Gonzo has created a vast visual diary stretching back many years. His creative process is immediate and sporadic. Gonzo delves into patterns that invoke tragedy directly through unrelenting intention and fierce unconscious architecture.
“I’m always trying to inspire others to use the artistic process in a therapeutic way and to enhance their quality of life. There is power in a community that accepts who you are, supports you, is inclusive to people and their challenges and that is honest in their communication.”
About Gonzo
Photo credit: Kyla Fear
Born and raised in Idaho, Gonzo started traveling up and down the West Coast, then back and forth across the country, hopping trains and following the Grateful Dead. He finally settled in Denver in 1994.
Gonzo was homeless for twenty years. At the age of 50, his life changed when he was incarcerated. During Gonzo’s incarceration, he turned to art for entertainment and solitude and was quickly charmed by the meditative and therapeutic qualities of creativity. Gonzo adds, “I’m still addicted to the feeling of tranquility I achieve during the creative process.”
When he left prison and was on parole visiting St. Francis, he would sit at a table and draw. People joined him because his art was new and different. He says, “...the power of therapeutic activity brings people in…I discovered that and I went, wow, this is an amazing gift.”
Early in 2010, while in a transitional housing program, he was introduced to the REACH program at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, where he started painting and expanding his work with found materials. Gonzo has since exhibited broadly in Denver, and is now coordinator of the REACH Program and a maven amongst Denver outsider artists.
About RedLine, he says, “I discovered community here. I discovered how to build community, bring people in…my life started when I came here.”
In response to the lack of support for artists who have experienced extreme financial hardship, are unhoused or in recovery, REACH was created as an artist-led studio art program that offers an inclusive space for artists to build their creative practice and take the next steps in their lives.
RedLine at 15
RedLine is celebrating its 15th Anniversary with exhibitions that honor our Resident Artist alumni and community artists who have shaped Denver’s rich artistic ecosystem throughout the years.
Thank You for the Support!
RedLine would like to thank Bank of America, Susan & Bradford Lewis, Sidney E. Frank Foundation - Colorado Fund, and Virginia Hill Foundation for their support of these exhibitions and our REACH Program. Additionally, we would like to thank our leading Annual Fund supporters the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, David & Laura Merage Foundation, and the SCFD.
