Greg Gandy’s still lifes and large-scale cityscapes of San Francisco derive from studies he makes while on location and from his own photographs. Gandy allows the time of day and weather conditions to dictate his use of color and manipulation of light. His unorthodox framing indicates the presence of the painter, highlighting his experience rather than offering an objective rendering of the landscape. “It’s my way of documenting the city—a place that is so personal to me,” Gandy says. “My paintings are like a diary of sorts.” This autobiographical emphasis extends to his process for creating still lifes, which he builds from objects he finds on his trips to antique fairs.
