Overview

My paintings are mostly made from reverie, and luck.

I do like very thin, wet paint. When I was young I worked through all the different ways to paint. I used pasty paint and built it up. I fell in love with Matisse’s way of using very little paint. I liked the elegance of using thin paint. When I was really young and painting, I really didn’t have a way that I knew I could put paint down. I hadn’t figured out what I liked. I didn’t want to lean towards subjective motivation, where the brush stroke is totally subjectively motivated. I wanted to be more like a sign painter, where it was objectively motivated. In other words, I wanted to know where the paint was going. I made a decision, I thought, that’s the kind of artist I wanted to be. — Ron Gorchov
Biography
The late Ron Gorchov was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1930. He attended the University of Mississippi in 1947, spending the following two years at the Roosevelt College & Art Institute in Chicago and rounded up his studies at the University of Illinois in 1951. As a groundbreaking artist, Gorchov bridged sculpture and abstract painting, developing a singular artistic vocabulary over decades of practice. He belonged to a generation of painters who removed their canvases from the rectangular stretcher seeking a new pictorial field, and within his signature curved canvases he united form and content while preserving their tensions. His...
Works
  • Ron Gorchov, Dardanus, 2018
    Ron Gorchov
    Dardanus, 2018
    oil on linen
    112 x 91.5 x 23 cm
    44 1/16 x 36 1/16 x 9 1/16 in
  • RG 2018 Iambe
    Ron Gorchov
    Iambe, 2018
    oil on linen
    87 x 114 x 24 cm
    34 4/16 x 44 14/16 x 9 7/16 in
  • RG 2018 Tros
    Ron Gorchov
    Tros, 2018
    oil on linen
    127.5 x 142 x 32 cm
    50 3/16 x 55 14/16 x 12 9/16 in
  • RG 2018 Callithoe
    Ron Gorchov
    Callithoe, 2018
    oil on linen
    54.5 x 73 x 17 cm
    21 7/16 x 28 11/16 x 6 11/16 in
  • RG 2018 Untitled F-1
    Ron Gorchov
    Orion, 2018
    Rabbit skin glue and pigment on linen
    114 x 138 x 26.5 cm
    44 14/16 x 54 5/16 x 10 6/16 in
  • RG 2018 Libitina-1
    Ron Gorchov
    Libitina, 2017
    Rabbit skin glue and pigment on linen
    112 x 89 x 20 cm
    44 1/16 x 35 1/16 x 7 13/16 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Alcinous, 2017
    Ron Gorchov
    Alcinous, 2017
    Casein on linen
    88.9 x 114.3 x 24.13 cm
    35 x 45 x 9 1/2 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Phlegethon, 2015
    Ron Gorchov
    Phlegethon, 2015
    oil on linen on shaped stretcher
    109 x 91 x 21 cm
    42 7/8 x 35 7/8 x 8 1/4 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Stack Painting, 2015
    Ron Gorchov
    Stack Painting, 2015
    oil on canvas, on six attached shaped stretchers
    200 x 100 x 22 cm
    78 3/4 x 39 3/8 x 8 5/8 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Phaeton, 2015
    Ron Gorchov
    Phaeton, 2015
    oil on linen
    38 x 42 x 10 cm
    15 x 16 1/2 x 4 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Hypatia, 2014
    Ron Gorchov
    Hypatia, 2014
    oil on canvas
    44 x 34 x 13.5 cm
    17 3/8 x 13 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.
  • Ron Gorchov, Promenade, 1985
    Ron Gorchov
    Promenade, 1985
    oil on linen
    204.5 x 174.5 x 25 cm
    80 8/16 x 68 11/16 x 9 13/16 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Loggia, 1985
    Ron Gorchov
    Loggia, 1985
    oil on linen on shaped stretcher
    204 x 154 x 29 cm
    80 1/4 x 60 5/8 x 11 3/8 in
  • large_20200128_MARLBOROUGH-10_PLH
    Ron Gorchov
    Callisto, 1983
    oil on linen on shaped stretcher
    70.5 x 49.8 cm
    27 12/16 x 19 9/16 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Procession, 1983
    Ron Gorchov
    Procession, 1983
    oil on canvas on shaped stretcher
    165.1 x 205.74 x 27.94 cm
    65 x 81 x 11 in
  • 5_Ron Gorchov_Image
    Ron Gorchov
    Sundial, 1982
    oil on canvas on shaped stretcher
    76.5 x 74.9 x 20.3 cm
    30 1/16 x 29 7/16 x 7 15/16 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Painting in bronze (silver patina), 1981-2017
    Ron Gorchov
    Painting in bronze (silver patina), 1981-2017
    cast bronze and cherrywood (silver patina)
    76.2 x 71.12 x 21.59 cm
    30 x 28 x 8 1/2 in
  • Ron Gorchov, Victory, 1979
    Ron Gorchov
    Victory, 1979
    oil on linen on shaped stretcher
    152.4 x 152.4 cm
    60 x 60 in
  • RG 1979 Spike-retouche
    Ron Gorchov
    Spike, 1979
    oil on linen on shaped stretcher
    127 x 68.5 x 20 cm
    50 x 26 15/16 x 7 13/16 in
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