Passionately researching science, art and environment, Fred Gutzeit not only produces dynamic work but also pushes the boundary of media, form and subject matter in an attempt to portray the most organic motifs in humanity. For the past ten years, he has abstracted the landscape moving from natural scenes to particle physics and cosmology. His work intends to unfurl these complexities while portraying human’s inherent connection to these phenomena.

Gutzeit assumes the mathematical “manifold theory” that relies on Calabi-Yau spaces as mathematical constructions delineating parts of nature that are too small to see with the human eye and sometimes impossible to view with scientific advancement. Calabi-Yau spaces remain key elements that support the string theory and thoughts about ultimate reality.

Importantly, the string theory recognizes matter as imperfect shape and alludes to biological differences, which Gutzeit demonstrates in a new series. To render the series, Gutzeit collects human signatures and through a series of steps sketches, enlarges, prints, posts and finally paints the signatures with watercolor. Surprisingly penmanship hardly appears jaded and each signature represents the signer. Gutzeit exposes an unknown and beautiful iconography that teaches the viewer about themselves and with whom they interact.

Gutzeit (born in Ohio) lives and works in New York City and shows in numerous international galleries. He studied Painting, Drawing, Printmaking and Photography at Yale Norfolk and graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art, OH, in Painting with a minor in Printmaking—continuing to work intensely with Graphic Design and Photography. After commencement, Gutzeit traveled to Mexico and attended classes at El Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramirez in San Miguel Allende. Furthering his education, he took courses in Lithography at Pratt Graphic Art Center, NY, and completed the M.A. program in Studio Art at Hunter College, CUNY, NY.

His extensive pedigree and intrinsic determination led him to receive enumerable awards and residencies, including but not limited to: Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant; residency at Catskill Centerʼs Platte Clove House to paint the area landscape, and; Jack Johnson Award for Excellence in Printmaking. Moreover, his monumental work has been collected by important corporations, institutions and private collectors: U.S. Library of Congress, Washington, DC; National Building Museum, Washington, DC; Arthur Danto, New York City; Corey Booker, Mayor, Newark, NJ; Robert Storr, New Haven, CT; Klaus Kertess; Saul Dennison; James Wagoner and Barry Hoggard collection, and; Allan Stone.

This text has been inspired by the words of Marvin Cohen.

Fred Gutzeit passed away in January 3, 2022