GUSTAVE CARLSON: HEIRLOOM BARNS AND FORGOTTEN HOUSES
April 25 – May 31, 2025
Artists’ Reception: Saturday, April 26, 3 – 5 pm
Artists’ Talk: Saturday, May 17, 3 -5 pm
Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: May 2, 5 – 9 pm
Mercury 20 Gallery
475 25th Street, Oakland, CA 94612
Friday and Saturday, 12 – 5 pm (and by appointment)
Gustave Carlson’s body of work is an exploration of the agricultural landscape, with a particular emphasis on barns, agrarian vernacular, and forgotten houses. In his paintings, Carlson creates scenes that feel both familiar and mysterious. His acute awareness of building shapes and perspectives, coupled with his commitment to landscape stewardship, positions his work as a form of documentation. Carlson’s perception of the landscape as a blanket or wallpaper that envelops the surface is vividly translated into his art. His paintings evoke themes of decay, architectural typology, nostalgia, and distinctive color harmonies. Notably, the chairs in his paintings serve as metaphoric representations of the human figure. Carlson’s technique is marked by a juxtaposition of thick, layered applications with thin, less developed areas. Engaging in the simultaneous creation of multiple paintings, Carlson allows for the emergence and overlay of earlier forms, resulting in a palimpsest-like effect known as pentimento. This nuanced interplay between presence and absence is a cornerstone of his artistic comfort zone.
Gallery
Available Work
Gustave Carlson
Gustave Carlson is an architect and principal of Gustave Carlson Design in Berkeley, California, and a painter exploring the quiet tension between architecture, light, and lived space. He is the author of Pacific Modern Houses of Northern California (ORO Editions, 2018), a widely acclaimed survey of regional modernism.
His award-winning architectural work has received international recognition and appears in Elle Decor, Dwell, Wallpaper, The New York Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Carlson holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and studied painting there under Color Field painter Adele Alsop.
He has attended residencies at Edgewood Farm at Castle Hill in Truro, Massachusetts, and Studio Faire in Nérac, France. His paintings have earned honors including Best in Show at the Greenwich Art Society and have been exhibited at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Tiburon Library Gallery, Greenwich Art Society, and Mercury 20 Gallery. His work is held in private collections.