March 2023 Unicorn Of The Month: Gabriel J. Shuldiner

The plan in my head was to feature Gabriel last month. However life had different plans. I started a freelance gig with the City of Sacramento, I am redesigning my website, and I finally started making progress on very large painting. Plus I have been doing a lot more admin, art related duties. Anyhow, new stuff is here! Enjoy the beautiful, psychologically layered, intensity of Gabriel J. Shuldiner.

1. Tell me about you as a person. The name in which you prefer to go by. Where are you based? What are your origins, where are you from, etc.?

My name is Gabriel J Shuldiner...born and raised and living in Manhattan, New York City. Going back many, many generations I am of Jewish descent hailing from Eastern Europe; Poland, Russia, Latvia… Ashkenazi Jew.

2. How long have you been practicing art professionally, when did you consider yourself a real artist?

I first started painting seriously just after 9/11. I don’t know how much 9/11 affected me, but the timing seems to be more than coincidental. It all coincided with getting clean… I got sober 22 years ago. Painting began around 21 years ago. I just gravitated towards making these black and white compositions in private. Not showing anyone. I felt so centered and so in the moment and so focused and passionate.. and clean. I thought life is short and you live only once… I refuse to do anything that doesn’t make me happy. So I changed my career and started painting and have never looked back. I had been in the record business doing marketing and A&R… I wanted to run a record company… but by this time, I was no longer having fun… I became a “real” artist as soon as I admitted to myself that I was an artist.

3. Did you go to art school? Tell me about your training, formal and informal.

I feel like I am self-taught. But I did go to graduate school at Parsons The New School for Design. I went back to school for my MFA in 2017. I wanted to learn as much as I could, I wanted to learn the “rules” of art so I could then circumvent them. Prior to Parsons, I went to The School of Visual Arts Summer Residency Program. And going back even further, while working in the record business and still at NYU for my undergraduate degree, I took photography classes at International Center of Photography… photography was my first artistic foray… I made these super abstract black and white prints. Extreme blacks. Extreme abstracts… minimal. I never did anything with them and eventually decided photography was not for me. So, did I have any formal training? I don’t know. I learned about art history at Parsons.. something I really knew nothing about…I fell asleep in AP Art History in high school. So in graduate school I learned the history and leaned how to talk about art… but did I learn technique? How to paint? No. I was very clear about my aesthetic and vision. My work got a lot better just by constantly making new work.. over and over again. I had my aesthetic down. I knew exactly what I wanted to create and explore… But I relate to the self-taught artist.. despite my education… does that make any sense?

4. It Does. I learned much more about the ins & outs of painting post school. What is the medium(s) that you prefer to work in and tell why?

I love acrylics.. primarily because it dries fast. I am in love with oil paint.. the look the feel the smell…. But in the quantities I use, the layers, it just takes too long to dry…. I am constantly modifying my acrylics, adding matter, making them very heavy… very light… I also use a lot of concrete and Most of my current work begins with traditional canvas. But I’ve used recycled cardboard, steel, wood, polystyrene as supports…

5. Who are some of your art inspirations? What are some of your non-art inspirations?

My artistic inspiration is Pierre Soulages. I’m bummed I never got to meet him. Discovering his work freed me from any chains I had that may have been holding me back. I felt free. I’ve cried in front of Soulages. Easily my favorite artist ever. Robert Ryman, my other favorite. Bernar Venet, Bram Bogart.. the abstract expressionist DeKooning. Ad Reinhardt. Richard Serra.

My non-art inspirations are still art… music. Heavily influenced by music. All types. Music was my drug before drugs became my drug… and since getting sober, music has become my drug again. I’m am also inspired by my environment, the concrete that makes up NYC.. the cracks, sidewalks.. roads… walls…. Deconstruction… time, decay. Japanese aesthetics of… literature: Sartre, Camus, Nietzchze, Bashō, Shunryu Suzuki… Zen…. Minimalism. You get the picture…

6. When do you know when a work is finished?

It’s a feeling I get. I can neither describe nor explain how I know a work is complete. I spend a lot of time looking at my work. Watching it. Listening to it. In a way, it tells me when it’s finished, and I listen.

7. Tell me about your process when working. Do you listen to music or do any rituals to get yourself ready to make art?

Sometimes I’ll listen to music. I find I’m listening to the news a lot these days… it’s in the background… the BBC… It acts like white noise… But honestly I am so honed in when I’m working, I don’t even notice what is going on in the background… just as long as it’s not silent. I cannot work in silence. I can meditate in silence, which I do. But I cannot work in silence. When I listen to music, I find I’m still listening to the bands I’ve always loved: Sonic Youth, Autechre, Skinny Puppy, Wagner, Nine Inch Nails, Minor Threat, Joy Division... I’m a music snob. When working I typically work on multiple pieces at the same time… between three and ten works… constantly bouncing ideas of each other… eventually one gets close to completion and I’ll focus in on it until complete… then it’s done. Then I’ll start another one.

8. What are the meanings and the concepts behind this particular body of work?

I feel my concepts are all pretty much existential. But my work is pretty much about the material. What it does. What it doesn’t do. How the materials work together. How they don’t work together. My work is about light. My work is about… whatever you want it to be about.

9.What do you want viewers would take away from your work?

Ideally I want my viewers to be moved by my work. In a good way or bad way… positive or negative… it doesn’t matter how they’re moved.. just as long as they’re moved. It’s one of the greatest feeling when I find someone who really “gets“ my work.

10.What are your biggest goals as a visual artist? And what has been your proudest moment professionally?

My proudest moment is probably getting into graduate school. Going to art school. At the time I couldn’t believe it. I was going to art school… It was a dream come true. Beyond my wildest dreams. Having my first solo show was also a very proud moment… my first art fair! My first sale! My second sale! Many proud moments… I’m in search of more of them.

To view Gabriel's full portfolio, visit his Website, and say hello through his Instagram, Twitter, and check out his NFTs. For inquiries about his was, contact David Richard Gallery & Maison Gerard.