Gregory Shilling is an oil painter and muralist from Northern California. Since graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, the up-and-coming artist has been living and working in Sacramento. His eclectic body of work usually focuses on people and explores how a story can be told by a body. Somewhere between realism, cartoon and impressionist, the figures Shilling puts in paint speak silently with heads hung low, creaky knees and curious fingers. Zooming out, his work also includes vast evening cityscapes full of people, cars, raccoons and street lights. These chaotic oil paintings satiate a detail-hungry viewer with ugly little delights.
Shilling’s biggest influences include Alberto Giacometti, ARYZ, Anna Park, Colleen Barry, Sainer ETAM, and Bill Watterson but that list changes often.
It’s just after sunset and as I stroll sweeping headlights reveal the secrets kept safe in the shadows cast by yellow street lamps. There’s a front porch conversation to my right, and a possum in a dumpster to my left. Someone shouts in the distance. The light reflected on the belly of the clouds is a sign of the city’s life. I wonder if I am the the animal and this is my habitat, or if the whole city, with its asphalt arteries, brick and mortar organs and electrical wire nervous system, is the beast, and I’m just a red blood cell circulating oxygen. Either way this town has a pulse.
Run a finger through the cobwebs in the corner.
Wink at the raccoon in the storm drain.
Press your cheek hard against the dirt.
Feel the ants and broken glass bite.
Gnaw the black gum off the cement.
Maybe there’s some flavor left in it.
Throw a jab, pick a scab, lick your wounds and never ever go to sleep.
