Three years of research and production will culminate in the sprawling retrospective documentary of artist Gregory Gillespie to be shown at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA on October 27, 2024. This is a free, unticketed event. Doors open at 3:30 PM and the show begins promptly at 4PM. In lieu of ticket costs, please make a donation to local arts organization Common Wealth Murals, a Springfield-based organization that works with local and international artists to design and create murals with and for the community.
There will be a panel talk with the director and local artists/film participants after the screening.
The event brings the artist home to the community in which he spent the last 30 years of his life. The film is executive produced by Eric Brecher and produced by Rick Segal and Robert Kohler, all avid followers of the idiosyncratic late painter. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker and producer, Larry Hott of Florentine Films, is the lead production consultant.
The film explores the groundbreaking work and legacy of American artist Gregory Gillespie (1936 – 2000). Born in New Jersey, Gillespie spent seven years in Italy studying and painting before settling in Western Massachusetts in 1970, where he remained until his untimely death in 2000. A beloved talent and visionary, Gillespie radically altered the path set for “new realism” painters by “rorschaching” into the mysteries of his own psychological demons while lifting cues from his careful study of Renaissance masters to conjure truly original postmodern masterpieces.
Director Evan Goodchild takes art fans on a riveting journey from Gillespie’s sacred studio space in Belchertown, Massachusetts to The Whitney in New York, The Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C., and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, meeting the people who loved him and learned from him. Drawing on archival footage – much of it seen and heard here for the first time – and extensive interviews with former director of The Whitney Adam Weinberg, artist William Beckman, artist and critic Alexi Worth, author A.J. Verdelle, and many more – including local artists Jane Lund (Ashfield, MA), Randall Deihl (Ashfield, MA), Robin Freedenfeld (Northampton, MA) and Scott Prior (Northampton, MA). The Painted Life of Gregory Gillespie investigates Gillespie’s breakthroughs in technique and invention over a rarefied career while utilizing the paintings themselves as a portal into the artist’s fascinating biography.
Working closely alongside New York-based writer Christopher Wood, the team has sifted through the 118 journals that the artist left behind after his death, revealing the artist’s innermost musings on technique: “Razor-blading, for me, is a way to open the painting up so I can get into it. It destroys the surface, yesterday’s marks, yesterday’s assumptions. Things pop up from the distant past, things get rubbed off and slowly disappear, while new images, new questions emerge.” (Gregory Gillespie, 1995, excerpt from journals).
Gillespie’s life and work have proven to be challenging and rewarding subjects, according to Goodchild: “Researching Gregory Gillespie has been both delightful and confounding. Everyone considered him their best friend yet he was notoriously a studio hermit. His paintings were brooding and painful yet his personality was buoyant and approachable. He was a deeply ambitious, prolific artist yet a gentle and sweet person. He observed the great mystery quite closely.”
Evan Goodchild won Best Short Film at the Mad in America Film Festival for Virtues of Non-Compliance, a gritty look at a broken mental health system from the perspective of its resilient patients. He has recently produced Reliquary of Blackness, a short documentary produced in partnership with Mass Humanities on the work of Wistariahurst and the Black Holyoke Project, highlighting the city’s overlooked, rich Black history. He is currently in production on another documentary of an extraordinary local painter who is no longer with us: Nelson Stevens. Partnering with New England Public Media, executive producer Tony Dunne, and historian Erika Slocumb, this short documentary will examine the work of AfriCOBRA artist, activist and UMASS professor Nelson Stevens, and how his work continues to live on through the mural projects of Common Wealth Murals, artist advocacy of gallerist Rosemary Tracey Woods, and works by last original surviving member of the AfriCOBRA artist collective, Napoleon Jones Henderson. The short documentary will be broadcast this Fall by NEPM as part of a local Black history special with productions from Goodchild Media, musician and filmmaker Khalif Neville, and Joe Aidonidis of Great Sky Media.
Official Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4w_exw6-t4&t=52s
Official Film Website: www.gregorygillespiefilm.com
Facebook Page: Gregory Gillespie Film
Instagram: GGfilm
Goodchild Media Website: www.goodchild.media
This is a free, unticketed event. Tickets are not required and any questions can be directed to the box office which is open Tuesday through Friday 3pm to 6pm. If you have any questions about accessibility, please contact the box office at [email protected] or (413) 584-9032 X105.
Show Date/Time:
Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 4:00 pm through 6:00 pm
Doors at 3:30 pm
Ticket Prices:
FREE EVENT
Where/ How Tickets Can be Purchased:
Purchase online using the button on the top right (scroll to the bottom of the page if using mobile), or you may visit or call our box office at 413-584-9032 ext.105.
Box Office Hours are 3pm - 6pm, Tuesday - Friday. Service fees always apply with purchase.
