Internationally acclaimed American artist Peter Gutkin — who has exhibited in important museums and art galleries throughout his illustrious career, including a solo show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in California, and twice participating in The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York's Biennial Exhibitions — creates minimal geometric abstract three-dimensional sculptures and two-dimensional drawings, that strip away gestural elements to reveal an objective, purely visual substance of form.

Gutkin’s approach to design is expressed through its distilled form, classical proportions and understated elegance. The details are refined, with subtle and restrained nuances. Its timelessness and simple beauty is unaffected by changing fads. Void of clutter and adornment, its elegance is imbued with modesty. Its earthly aura evokes botanical and organic allusions.

Gutkin’s roots derive from the 20th Century French Modernists along with the American Arts and Crafts movement. Pierre Chareau, Jean-Michel Frank, Constantin Brancusi, Gustav Stickley, and Greene and Greene have most strongly influenced his ouvre and artistic development.

Born in Brooklyn, NY 1944

MFA, San Francisco Art Institute

BFA, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia

Resides and works in San Francisco, CA

TEACHING

California College of Arts, Oakland, CA - 1997, 1994, 1982

San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA - 1978

University of California, Berkeley, CA - 1972-1974

Aspen School of Contemporary Art, Aspen, CO - 1966

SELECTED ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2013 Modernism West, Wall Sculptures & Drawings 1973-2013, San Francisco, CA

1995 Jernigan Wicker Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA

1990 Modernism, San Francisco, CA

Water Keepers, The Gardner, Berkeley, CA

1984 Atholl McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1982 Tables, Studio Exhibition, San Francisco, CA

1980 Studio Exhibition, San Francisco, CA

1977 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY

1977-74 Studio Exhibition, San Francisco, CA

1972 San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

1971 DeSaisset Museum, University of Santa Clara, CA

1970 San Jose State College Gallery, San Jose, CA

Hansen Fuller Gallery. San Francisco, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 Elevation, Andra Norris Gallery, Burlingame, CA

2019 Society of Independent Artists, Live Worms Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2016 Reclaimed: Elevating the Art of Reuse, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA

2004 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Modernism, San Francisco, CA

2000 Celebrating Modern Art, The Anderson Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

1996 California Color, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

1995 A Bay Area Connection: Works from the Anderson Collection, The Triton Museum, San Jose, CA and The Sculpture Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1993 Inaugural Exhibition, Evans-Gropper-Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1992 In the Spirit of John Cage, Jernigan Wicker Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA

Mezzotints of Yesterday and Today, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

1991 Everyday Objects: West Coast Industrial Design, San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA

1990 Lead and Wax, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Artists’ Kid’s Art, Braunstein Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Bay Area Sculptors of the 60’s, Past & Present, Braunstein Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

International Furniture Design Fair Asahikawa ’90, Asahikawa, Japan

1989 American Ceramic Art: The Vessel; 1940 to the Present, Community Arts, San Francisco, CA

1987 American Pop Culture Today, Laforet Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Furniture 80’s, California State University Stanislaus, Turlock, CA

1986 Children’s Furniture and Toys by Artists, Limn, San Francisco, CA

1985 New Furnishings, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA

Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

1984 Artists Design Furniture, Functional Art, Los Angeles, CA

1983 California Drawings, Modernism, San Francisco, CA

Elegant Miniatures, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Belka House, Kyoto, Japan

1982 Four Sculptors, Modernism, San Francisco, CA

Artists Furniture, Modernism, San Francisco, CA

Forgotten Dimension, Fresno Art Center, Fresno, CA

1981 Alumni Exhibition, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1980 In the Spirit of Constructivism 1980, San Diego Museum of Modern Art, San Diego, CA

1979 Sculpture and the Wall, Janus Gallery, Venice, CA

1978 Bruce Everett and Peter Gutkin, Janus Gallery, Venice CA

1977 Chris Darton, Michael Goldberg, Peter Gutkin, Mary Heilman, Harriet Korman, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1975 Manace, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

1974 Public Sculpture, Urban Environment, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

Contemporary American Paintings and Sculpture, Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL

Wood-works, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NY (traveling)

1973 Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Market Street Program, Pasadena Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA

1972 San Francisco, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

Sculptor’s Drawings, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Surrealism is Alive and Well in the West, Baxter Art Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA and Hansen Fuller Gallery, San Francisco, CA

The Source Show, Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, CA

1971 73rd Western Annual, Denver Museum, Denver, CO

Prints, Sculpture, and Objects, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

A Decade in the West, Stanford University Museum of Art, Palo Alto, CA and Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

Spray, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

Visions of Elsewhere, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1970 More Than One, Stanford University Museum of Art, Palo Alto, CA

Looking West 1970, Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha, NE

Sculpture Here and Now, Stanford University Museum of Art, Palo Alto, CA

1969 Eleven at Ghiradelli, Michael Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Recent Developments in Plastics, Hansen Fuller Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Rolling Renaissance, Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA

New Artists, Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA

AWARDS

Resources Council Product Design Award (ROSCOE) 1986

Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, 1984 & 1980

Purchase Prize, San Francisco Art Festival, 1972

Graduation Award, National Endowment for the Arts, 1966

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Anderson Collection, Menlo Park, CA

Best Products, Inc., Richmond, VA

City and County of San Francisco, CA

Jessica McClintock, San Francisco, CA

NASA/Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA

Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR

Rene Di Rosa Collection, Napa, CA

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

Seton Provincialate, Los Altos Hills, CA

Sheldon Memorial Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Wellington/Thorndike/Dorn/Paine/Lewis, Inc., Boston, MA

SELECTED CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Whitcomb, Laura

Dilexi: A Galery and Beyond, 2020 pp.250,290,291,294, 2022

Albright, Thomas

Barren Interiors, Empty Pedestals in the Art World, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 27,1980, p.52

Compressed Constructions, Spiderweb Sculptures, Artnews, Dec 1977, pp.112-113

An Artist Who Shows Dramatic Development, San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 1, 1977, p.36

Artist Opens His Own Gallery, San Francisco Chronicle, May 28, 1974, p.18

Computers Dull Selection, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug 16, 1973, p.18

Dramatic Art with a Poetic Vision, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 6, 1970, p.46

Bloomfield, Arthur

Artist Creates 30 Feet of Lunar Stillness, San Francisco Examiner, May 11, 1972, p.34

Bredt, Ted

The Skillful Mr. Gutkin, San Jose Mercury News, California Today, Dec 1971, pp.22-23

Dickson, Joanne

The Grace of Wood, Glass and Steel, Artweek, Vol.6, No.22, May 31, 1975, p.5

Dunham, Judith L.

Peter Gutkin: Structures in Transition, Artweek, Vol.7, No.22, June 5, 1976, p. 5

Frankenstein, Alfred

Superb Art on a Grandscale, San Francisco Chronicle, May 11, 1972, p.45

French, Palmer D.

Recent Developments in Plastics, Artforum, Vol 7, Jan 1968, p.66

Junker, Howard

San Francisco; Peter Gutkin at 170 Capp Street, Art in America, May 1980, p.159

Linhares, Phil

The Alternative Gallery–San Francisco, Currant, Vol.1, No.2, June –July, 1975

Marlowe, John

San Francisco, West Art, Vol.16, No.1, Sept 23, 1977, p.2

Moss, Stacy

Three Exhibitions That Share One Thing–High Quality, The Peninsula Times Tribune, Feb 26, 1980, p.B5

Peter Gutkin Sculptures About Restraint and Containment, Artweek, Vol.8, No.35, Oct 22, 1977, p.4

Muchnic, Suzanne

Art Walk / A Critical Guide to the Galleries, Los Angeles Times, Jan 19, 1979, Part IV, p.6

McCann, Cecile N.

Bay Area Point of View, Artweek, Vol.50, June 3, 1972, p.3

Gutkin Fantasy Objects, Artweek, Jan 27, 1979, p.9

Singerman, Howard

Sculpture and the Wall, Artweek, Jan. 27, 1979, p.9

Tarshis, Jerome

Exhibition at Hansen-Fuller Gallery, Art Forum, Vol.8, June 1970, p.91

Peter Gutkin, Paul Harris, Tom Holland, San Francisco Museum of Art, Artforum, Vol.10, June 1970

Terbell, Melinda

Realignments in the Galleries, Artnews, Oct 1973, pp.61-62

Market Street South, Artweek, Vol.4, Aug. 18, 1973, p.1

Ratcliff, Carter

Report from San Francisco, Art in America, Vol.65, No.3, pp.57-58

Wilson, William

Art by Humans, Artists by Computer, Los Angeles Times, July 30, 1973, p.17