The Floating World Series

The images of this series are based on arcs emanating from 12 equidistant points on the circumference of randomly placed circles. In an effort to convey the relationship between geometric structure and the natural world, the forms often resemble nature.

The Transitional Series

These paintings searched for a new path, after the previous Façade series, at times, reaching back to some ideas not fully developed in the past, as in “One”.  “Groundswell” used randomly-placed circles in its early stages, and “Floating World” initiated its own series.

The “Façade” Series

This ongoing series has developed out of the “Arabesque” series, especially GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE, which manifested lurking, mysterious images, within the geometric structure.  Instead of those eerie images, I substituted various hazardous symbols, which are partially obscured by glazes.  Through this work, I am interested in exploring the emotional, physical, ecological, and political states of mind within our psyches and our outer world.

The “Arabesque” Series

This series arose out of an interest in a more complicated, seductive line, still based on geometry, and an interest in Islamic tile patterns.  Using diagonal lines through a circle’s center to determine points to create the arcs and utilizing in some paintings, two different sized circles, patterns are formed that interact between those circles, as seen in ANCESTRAL HOME.

The “New Earth” Series

“New Earth”, has evolved out of the “Kaleidoscope” paintings. It references our current environmental condition, and the birthing of a new world, based on our harmonious thoughts in a collective consciousness.

Whereas, the “Kaleidoscope” paintings were based inside the circle, and had a close-up sense of being gateways, opening to new metaphysical worlds, the “New Earth” series reveals a narrative stream, from the newly formed Earth being born, to its experience travelling through dimensional portals in the universe.  The paintings have a sculptural feel, as the imagery moves into the space beyond the 12-pointed star circle of the “Kaleidoscope” series.

My primary medium is oil painting.  I have been using more glazing of colors to heighten the perception of a stained glass effect and a more ethereal quality to the circular imagery, as in the painting, STAR PORTAL, and in the shell-like womb and infant world of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER.  With my interest in geometry, PROPELLER, STAR PORTAL and SYNOPSIS depict vesica piscis (the ovoid formed by the intersection of two equal circles, whose centers are the same distance apart as the radius of each circle.)  In this case, a specific petal shape is formed by the arcs from the 12 pointed star of each circle.

As the narrative has developed through the paintings, I have limited my palette to the same colors of blue, violet, red, and yellow, to represent the dimensional circles, through which the newly formed Earth passes, as evidenced in STAR PORTAL. The multiple, yellow-green New Earths in JOURNEY TO THE CENTER represent various points in time, as it travels, or it can show them as being in various dimensions at the same time.

The “Kaleidoscope” Series

These abstract paintings are based on a 12-pointed star (arcs emanating from twelve equidistant points on the circle).  I discovered that using 12 points offered more possibilities of spatial relationships to explore.  As I increased the size of the circle, new abstract forms emerged in the geometry.  For example, multi-crossed points of arcs in smaller drawings became arc-shaped triangles in larger drawings.  The Kaleidoscope paintings have a sense of being portals that open to new metaphysical worlds.  When the viewer stands before one of these paintings, there is a strong feeling of being pulled into the center of the painted space.   The larger paintings in the series, such as KALEIDOSCOPE I, BLUE SPIN, and FUTURE PATH, fit within an 8 ft. circle.  The arc bottoms  follow the curve of the outer circle, on which the inner arcs, drawn from the 12 points of that circle, depend.   The two top corners of the rectangle reference where they contact the outer circle.

The series is comprised of oil paintings, pastel/watercolor drawings, and digital prints.  The digital prints weave my landscape photographs with imagery from the paintings.  The photographs, combined with painting imagery, form an abstract relationship, and depict dual realities inhabiting the same space/time continuum.  (For example: CHACO KALEIDOSCOPE, and MINERS’ SOUL).

---

Gail Buono — Artist Bio

• Gail Buono received a BFA in Painting from The School of Visual Arts, in New York City.  She has received two painting fellowships from the NJ State Council on the Arts, as well as, a “Distinguished Artist Award”.
• She painted in Italy for 15 months, with a solo show in Pisa, before returning to the  U.S.
• Her paintings were used as sole set for two one-act plays by the Rivoli Stage Co., at the William Carlos Williams Art Center (in conjunction with a solo show),  in Rutherford, NJ, and at the Westbeth Theatre Center, in Manhattan. 
• Four of her paintings were selected for a university circuit tour in the show, “The Enduring Presence (New York Abstraction)”.
• She moved to the Santa Fe area in mid-2006.  In 2012, she was chosen by Peter Frank, the L.A. art critic, as a juror honoree in the “New Mexico Showcase” at 516 Arts, in Albuquerque.  
• She has shown her work at various venues in Santa Fe, including a show at Tom Ross Gallery on Canyon Rd.  In 2022, she was selected by the Santa Fe Gallery Association to be part of their artist catalog (for artists seeking gallery representation) on their website for the perusal of their gallery members. 
• Her work has been exhibited and collected throughout the U.S. and Europe. 

Art Resume

(PDF Format)