Gordon Sizelove
American, b. 1953 Follow Gordon Sizelove (American, b. 1953) is a San Francisco–based painter whose geometric forms and vivid chromatic fields explore universal themes of perception, movement, and connection. Working in acrylics, pastels, charcoal, and pencil, he constructs enigmatic interlocking patterns - shapes that seem to shift between biomorphic organisms viewed through a microscope, the mottled textures of a forest floor, or objects drifting through deep space. Influenced by contemporary developments in art, architecture, and science, Sizelove’s visual language is distinctly his own. Born in Boston and raised across Springfield and Worcester, Massachusetts, Sizelove began painting early and studied at both cities’ art museums. In 1972 he moved to the West Coast to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, where he immersed himself in a thriving cultural scene. There he studied with second-generation American abstractionists and artists associated with the emerging Funk Art movement, including Sam Tchakalian, Julius Hatofsky, Tom Holland, and Robert Hudson.
He also met his future wife, Barbara Johnson, in a course taught by Robert Colescott, whose transgressive, incisive paintings about race made a lasting impression.
After earning his MFA in Painting in 1979 and exhibiting widely, Sizelove completed a teaching credential in Art Education at San Francisco State University. He spent decades teaching art in the San Francisco Unified School District, later shifting his focus to working with students with learning disabilities while pursuing additional studies in perception and behavior. Since retiring in 2014, he has returned to painting full time, continuing to evolve his practice through ongoing engagement with developments in science, philosophy, psychology, and contemporary art.
RECENT EXHIBITIONS
2025
Ingleside Gallery at the Ballast Café, San Francisco, CA
February - March 2025
Canessa Building Gallery
Group Show, curated by Thomasina DeMaio
January 2025
Art Works Downtown
Group Show
San Rafael, CA
December 2025
2024
Kings Galleries at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco
With Barbara Sizelove
November - December 2024
San Francisco Open Studios
In-studio exhibition and Brannan Street Gallery
October 2024
The Spring Group Exhibition
Live Worms Gallery
San Francisco, CA
April 27 - May 18, 2024
A Gathering of Color
Falkirk Cultural Center, San Rafael, CA
Juror: Ta Vee Lee
January 12 - February 16, 2024
Circles, Squares, and Triangles
Exhibizone (online exhibition)
January 5 - March 5, 2024
Small Works Exhibit
Art Works Downtown
San Rafael, CA
Juror: Eleanor Harwood
November 18, 2023 - January 20, 2024
Cornucopia
Art Works Downtown Members’ Exhibition
San Rafael, CA
November 24, 2023 - January 20, 2024
2023
Reveries on the Universal
Donor’s Gallery, Art Works Downtown
San Rafael, CA
October 5 - November 10, 2023
San Francisco Open Studios
721 Tehama Street, San Francisco, CA
November 11 - 12, 2023
Live Worms Gallery
Group Show
San Francisco, CA
June 30 - July 8, 2023
Completely Color: Color and Human Experience
Inter-Society Color Council
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Jurors: Mark Fairchild and Danielle Siembieda
June 12 - July 14, 2023
Abstract is Abstract
HMVC Gallery NYC (online)
May 1 - May 31, 2023
ArtSpan Juried Benefit Art Auction
111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA
March 30 - April 15, 2023
Creative Revel
Live Worms Gallery
San Francisco, CA
November 17, 2022 - January 8, 2023
Small Works Exhibit
Art Works Downtown
San Rafael, CA
Juror: Emebet B. Korn
November 19, 2022 - January 21, 2023
2022
SFOS Exhibition
ArtSpan, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA
October 22 - November 13, 2022
Colors
Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, CA
Group Show
Juror: Karen Leoni
October 28 - November 19, 2022
San Francisco Open Studios
721 Tehama Street, San Francisco, CA
November 5 - 6, 2022
The Spring Show
Live Worms Gallery
San Francisco, CA
May 19 - June 12, 2022
Yes Art!
ArtSpan Benefit Art Auction
April 18 - April 28, 2022
Jurors: Marcy Coburn, Lena Conley, Donna Camille Davis, John James Hartford V, Don Ross
2021
Mission Bowling Club
ArtSpan’s Art-in-Neighborhoods Program
San Francisco, CA
November 30, 2021 - March 1, 2022
Pure Paint
Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA
Juror: Nicholas Wilton
November 13 - December 19, 2021
SFOS Showcase Exhibition
SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
October 22 - November 21, 2021
San Francisco Open Studios
721 Tehama Street, San Francisco, CA
October 16 - 17, 2021
One Year Anniversary Show
Live Worms Gallery
August 27 - September 12, 2021
Arts in the Neighborhoods
ArtSpan at Cumaica Coffee House, San Francisco, CA
June 9 - August 25, 2021
7th Annual Juried Show
Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont, CA
April 16 - May 16, 2021
Jurors: René de Guzman and Danielle Fox
The Pleasure of Color
Art Works Downtown
Curated by Susan Press
March 5 - April 11, 2021
The February Group Show
Live Worms Gallery
January 29 - February 21, 2021
2020
The Creative Revel
Live Worms Gallery
December 18, 2020 - January 10, 2021
Art in the Neighborhoods
The Mosser Hotel, San Francisco, CA
March 5 - December 18, 2020
(Closed temporarily during pandemic beginning March 16, 2020)
San Francisco Open Studios (Virtual)
October 2020
AWARDS
Award for Campaign Collateral Competition
San Francisco Open Studios / ArtSpan
2022
“ I present a painting as an object, a thing in itself, not a representation. The painting is the place and the time is the present. My painting invites self-reflection, yet taps into the poetry and spirit of existence. ”— Gordon Sizelove
“ I present a painting as an object, a thing in itself, not a representation. The painting is the place and the time is the present. My painting invites self-reflection, yet taps into the poetry and spirit of existence. ”— Gordon Sizelove
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