Wade Guyton

Wade Guyton is an American post-conceptual artist known for his utilization of scanners and digital inkjet technology to create digital paintings on canvas, among other artistic pursuits.

Biography of Wade Guyton

Wade Guyton was born in 1972 in Hammond, Indiana. From 1990 to 1995, he studied at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, graduating with a BA. A year later, in 1996, the artist relocated to New York. 

Initially rejected for admission to the Whitney Independent Study Program, Wade Guyton pursued his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree at Hunter College from 1996 to 1998. During his time at Hunter College, Guyton was mentored by Robert Morris.

He began his career by working at St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village, followed by a position as a guard at Dia:Chelsea. In 2004, when Dia closed its Chelsea location, Guyton used his severance pay to maintain his studio and apartment in the East Village without the need for additional employment.

Wade Guyton has been honored with several awards and residencies, including the Delfina Studio Trust (2000), the Artists Space Independent Projects Grant (2002), the Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Grant (2003), the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts (2004), and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Art (2014).

His recent solo exhibitions include "Five Paintings, 2013-2015" at Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in Paris (2023), "The Undoing" at Matthew Marks in Los Angeles (2021), "WADE GUYTON, Supply Chain" at Reena Spaulings Fine Art in New York. The artist has also participated in group exhibitions, including "I'll be your mirror: Art and the digital screen" at the Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth in Texas (2023), "Alvin Baltrop, Wade Guyton, Heimo Zobernig" at Galerie Francesca Pia in Zurich (2022), "Ice and Fire: A Benefit Exhibition in Three Parts" at The Kitchen in New York (2020), among others. 

Wade Guyton's Art Style

Wade Guyton gained recognition in the mid-2000s through a groundbreaking series of abstract paintings featuring basic forms and letters printed on canvas. By subjecting the canvas to a commercial inkjet printer, Guyton pushed the device to its limits, often failing, thus imprinting the boundaries of a digital future onto the surfaces of his paintings. Through his drawings, sculptures, and installations, Guyton delves deeper into the convergence of art, design, technology, and everyday existence.

Around 2003, Guyton's initial "drawings" featured black Xs overlaying torn book pages, establishing black and the letter X as recurring motifs. Employing an Epson Stylus Pro 9600 inkjet printer typically reserved for large-format prints, he utilizes a computer to generate his paintings. From 2005 onward, Guyton has predominantly worked on canvas. His pieces are often displayed in cohesive series.

In his most recent series, Guyton enhances the interplay between painting and photography by incorporating cellphone snapshots of paintings drying on the floor, studio perspectives, screen captures, and enlarged bitmaps.