Canfin Gallery

JYLIAN GUSTLIN

“I knew that if I finished, I would never make art” is how Jylian Gustlin explains leaving college one semester short of a degree in computer science and mathematics to attend the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where she received a BFA. She fused her extensive knowledge of computers with her passion for art to become a graphics programmer for Apple Computers. She is fascinated by the figure, as well as Fibonacci numbers, and is interested in exploring how to use these ideas in paintings. She continues to explore science and mathematics and how they intersect with art.

The beautiful and vibrant works of Jylian Gustlin are readily recognizable. Her rich multilayered surfaces are infused with color, boldly worked, in multi mediums and signature resin finish. Known for her lone female figure and impasto laden surface as well as her Fibonacci Series, Jylian continues to explore the merging of science with art, the creative in collusion with the mathematical and its articulation. Jylian’s innate comprehension of classical proportion merged with modern technology and her emphasis on form remain intent on its replication. Her work is defined by the compositional and dynamic relationships and rhythmic sequencing, discovered centuries ago and found in the very patterns in nature.

Raised in the San Francisco area and shaped by the technology explosion of Silicon Valley, Gustlin brings a new sensibility to Bay Area figuration. With her background in computer science and mathematics, she has a heightened understanding of how studying patterns and layers on the computer screen can aid her to lay down the bones of a painting, without being confined by it. Her works penetrate the void of its lonesome figure, allowing the viewer to merge deeper into the artist’s own ponderous world and painterly illusion.

Jylian Gustlin is widely regarded and received, and her works can be found in various collections both private and public.