| JOHN BYGOTT: BIO
I grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, a coastal town on Long Island sound. But a great
deal of my life has been spent on Cape Cod and Rhode Island. The wide open spaces and
endless skies of the Southwest beckoned as well, and I have spent over 30 years
traveling throughout New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, settling in Santa Fe, New
Mexico for seven years.
I started painting and drawing at an early age, pursuing art through High School and college.
Attending Paier College of Art in New Haven Ct. I studied commercial art, graphic design and
interior design. Graduating with a major in interior design, I pursued a career in both interior
design and the gallery business for 30 years. Other studies included silk screening at the Fine
Arts Work Center, New Haven, Ct, graphic design, Notre Dame College, Manchester NH, and
studio painting at the Silvermine Guild in Silvermine, CT. The draw of the arts has been a
constant for me, and I returned to making my own art in 2002. My paintings have been exhibited
in galleries in Bridgeport, CT, Santa Fe and Madrid, NM, Delray Beach, Fl, Fort Lauderdale and
Wilton Manors, FL.
My professional life has included working in galleries in Provincetown and Wellfleet Ma,
Santa Fe NM, Fairfield Ct, and as owner and director of the Saugatuck Gallery in
Westport Ct for 6 years. I worked for Bloomingdales, NYC in both the model rooms and
interior design departments as well as the interior design firm Easton & LaRocca, NYC.
I have continued to do interiors for close to 30 years and have had the pleasure of
working on projects in South Florida, Santa Fe NM, Southern Connecticut, Cape Cod
and New York City.
I find my peace and tranquility in the great expanse of sky, be it over the ocean or the
prairies and mountains of the southwest. Clouds are forever changing and dancing
throughout the landscape and have become my favorite and inspiring subject matter.
Painting primarily in oil I strive to share my experience of the space and place of wide
open vistas. Many of my paintings are small and intimate. My hope and challenge is to
engage the viewer with the vista of wide open sky, as if they were a portal to a great
expanse. My work is not about perfection, nor realism, but rather an “impression”
portrayed in a “graphic” manor. My influences include the Taos Society of Painters,
Georgia O’Keefe, Robert Natkin, Emily Mason, Wolf Kahn, Mark Rothko, Ann Packard
and Robert Cardinal. And of course, the sky.
Current gallery representation:
Studio Bridgeport Innovation Center 955 Connecticut Ave. Bridgeport CT 06607 Gallery representation has included: Charlestown Gallery, Charlestown Rhode IslandmAe Fine Art, Delray Beach FL, Claudia Castillo Art Space, Wilton Manors Fl. Arroyo Gallery, Santa Fe NM La Mesa of Santa Fe, Canyon Road, Santa Fe NM Indigo Gallery, Madrid NM Manitou Galleries, Santa Fe NM City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport, CT |