Art / Bryten Goss
Story / Shalon Goss
History has shown us time and again the mischievous ways of the “Art World”, the acceptance or lack thereof, of one artist or another, one painting, drawing, or photograph. The true artists have not always lived to see fame and success come to their work, but the art has so often found its way into the clutches of those who give it a name; a reputation. Bryten Goss was a timeless, illimitable man–traditional and modern, encouraging and ruthless.  gentleman, scholar, rebel, and master painter. He never attempted or permitted for a spectacle to be made of him and his work, to Goss, it was always about the art and never about the artist. Having passed on many opportunities to become “instantly famous” Goss paved his own path, garnering, along the way, a long list of collectors, supporters and patrons, including many acclaimed artists and celebrities.
Goss’ paintings bring life back to the living; the loss, guilt, heartache, love, disaster, confusion, deception, and the hope that we as the human race experience daily, but is so often dramatized or hidden, Goss beautifully displays the things that make us who we are, give us character, or take it away; he makes it so enticing that, when you dare to look, you are compelled to confront who you are, and all that is truly going on behind the veils.
Goss’ early works highlighted classical nudes, old men drinking in Irish pubs or working in the fields, and his most recent works delved in to a more conceptual realm, depicting everything from large pigs being ridden by women in lingerie, to midget popes, burning buildings, and a very large woman sitting on the shoulders of none other than Goss himself (titled “Guilt.”) Many of his last days were also spent creating etchings, following the proven, classical methods, which will be displayed to the public for the first time in the upcoming Bryten Goss Exhibition at the James Gray Gallery in Bergamot Station, this April 21st through May 20th.
October 26, 2006 marks the hard-hitting day of Goss’ death. A day I’ll never forget; the day my brother died. At only 30 years old, after returning from Mexico where my brother delivered his largest commission (6’ x 24’), he fell ill and passed away only weeks later. Not a day goes by that those who knew him or his work don’t feel the loss the world took upon his passing. There will be no new works of women, no more pigs, no more popes. But, as in the true fashion of Bryten Goss, he made sure to leave behind a legacy, to be made a legend.
This exhibition marks the first since Bryten’s passing where his works will be sold on location and it will hosted by Alexandra Breckenridge and Danny Masterson.
BRYTEN GOSS EXHIBITION – GRAY JAMES GALLERY IN SANTA MONICA – APRIL 21ST – MAY 20TH
