Born 1962, Van Nuys, CA

Lives and works in Laguna Beach, CA

GALLERY REPRESENTATION

Newport Beach, CA - Kennedy Contemporary

Mill Valley, CA - Seager Gray Gallery

Park City, UT - Julie Nester Gallery

Glencoe, IL - Anne Loucks Gallery

EDUCATION

1987, California Community Colleges, Instructor Credential

1986, MFA California State University, Fullerton

1984, BA California State University, Fullerton

EXHIBITIONS

2023Something Searched For, Just Out of Reach, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2022

24 x 24, Group Exhibition at Kennedy Contemporary, CAELEMENTAL, Kennedy Contemporary, Newport Beach

2018And Another Thing, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley

2017

Solo Exhibition, Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT

2016Gwaltney, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

info@kennedycontemporary.com 714.519.6297

2015

Solo Exhibition, Cadogan Contemporary, London, England

Solo Exhibition, Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT

2014Time Is…, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Group Exhibition, Tria Gallery, Chelsea, NY

2013

Solo Exhibition, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Tria Gallery, Chelsea, NYPostcards, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Group Exhibition, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA

Group Exhibition,

Five, Julie Nester Gallery, Park City UT

2012

Solo Exhibition, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Aqua Art Miami with Seager Gray Gallery

Group Exhibition, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA

Group Exhibition,

Figures in Abstract, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2011

Solo Exhibition, Tria Gallery, New York, NY

Solo Exhibition, Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT

2010Shadow and Absence, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

2009

Solo Exhibition, Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Group Exhibition,

Figurative, Peter Blake / LA Louvre, Laguna Beach, CA

info@kennedycontemporary.com 714.519.6297

2008

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

2007

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Group Exhibition,

Figurative, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

2006

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2005

Solo Exhibition, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Group Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

2004

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2003

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

Group Exhibition,

Summer Show, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2002

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2001

Solo Exhibition, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

Solo Exhibition, Robert Green Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

SELECT REVIEWS

Chris Gwaltney: What is Left is What is Needed

Essay by John Seed, Art Writer

Artist Chris Gwaltney, who began his career painting figures, has recently returned to abstraction for his solo exhibition ELEMENTAL. Although a longtime admirer of Bay Area Figurative art—Gwaltney treasures a watercolor nude by Nathan Oliveira that hangs in his bedroom—he has recently observed that abstraction opens up a deeper engagement with his audience. “Abstraction demands more from the viewer,” he explains. “Because the image doesn’t supply the story, the viewer is willing to look within and say, ‘I don’t know why I like this, but I do.’” Gwaltney finds it satisfying when his viewers feel free to respond to his abstract paintings on an emotional level. In fact, Gwaltney considers it his primary job as an artist to deliver paintings that transmit emotions. (READ MORE)

Chris Gwaltney World
By Bolton Colburn, Former Director Laguna Art Museum
Independent Curator

Literally stepping off into abstraction, the figure in Chris Gwaltney’s painting Up, More Up performs a Kafkaesque metamorphosis as it leaves the diving board, with one leg flattening into a mere black shape. The physical weight of the figure is absorbed and counterbalanced by this abutting color-shape, an apt visual metaphor for the transition from one state to another, and of the thin line that constitutes the separation between being and not being. (READ MORE)