Born: Lynwood, California 1949

Education:

Orange Coast College

Art Institute of Southern California

University of Colorado

Selected exhibitions:

Edinger Gallery- 1986

Laguna Beach Festival of Arts- 1987-2001

Coolsville Fine Arts- 1988

L.A. County Museum of Art, Galleria-1987- 988

Steve Stein Gallery- 1990

J-1 Gallery, Tokyo Japan- 1991

C-2 Gallery, Tokyo Japan- 1991

Marco Fine Arts Gallery, Beverly Hills- 1991-1997

Contempo Gallery, Nagoya Japan- 1992

Peace Watch exhibit, Santa Monica Place 1992

Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C.- 1991-1994

Laguna Art Museum, Feast on Art, -1996

Pleasures of the Palette, Arizona -1998

Sherwood Gallery, Laguna Beach-1995-2005

Galleria Di Sorrento, Las Vegas -1998-2000Pop International Galleries, NYC 2001

Gallery 151, NYC

Seven Degrees Gallery, California 2003 - 2005

"Foark in the Road" Y2F World Tour

Laguna Beach California -1999

Providence Rhode Island -1999

RISD Rhode Island School of Design -1999

Pittock Mansion, Portland Oregon -2000

BFirst Avenue Gallery, Portland Oregon -2000

Awards and achievements:

Art for the set of Tri- Star productions, "My Two Dads", 1989

Commissioned by the Smithsonian Museum, D.C. -1991

Featured on Seven Network Australia Television, 1994

Awarded top 5% of all internet designs for Coolsville site, '95

Featured States of the Heart on A&E  Romance series, '98

Chosen  to represent GMC Jimmy 4x4 in commercial, 1998

P for permanent collection Festival of Arts -2000

Awarded Honorary Life Time Membership of Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters -2000

Chosen as one of Hottest 25 People of Orange County by OCmetro Magazine November 2003

C l i e n t s

Apple Computer

Daniel Fine Art Services

Hard Rock Hotel, San Diego

H.E.B. Grocery/ Great’s

HKS inc.

Lumière Place, St. Louis

MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas

Nashville Renaissance Marriott

NBC children's series "Name Your Adventure"

Pageant of the Masters

Red Rock Hotel, Las Vegas

Seven Degrees

Stephen Webster / Robert Shaw

UHS

Private and corporate collections include:

The Smithsonian Institution, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen Bornemisza, Elayne Boosler, Chevy Chase, Mark and Peggy DiSalle , Freddie Fields , Hugh Hephner, Elton John , Norman Lear, Sohnen Enterprises; Los Angeles, Charlie Sheen, John Singleton

ROARK’S STUDIO GALLERY • 2894 S. COAST HWY LAGUNA BEACH CA, 92651 • 949.376.2048

Roark Gourley

BIO RESUME AND CLIENTELE

What the Dog Coughed Up

My biography was to be printed on this page... but my dogs ate it. Just before I fed it to my two dachshunds (who will eat anything), I looked at it and asked my self, "Is this what people really want to know about me?" What you really want to know is who is this Roark Guy...where did he come from, where is he going, and where does he get those crazy ideas? I'm 55, California born and raised, I went to college/art school, my work has been shown in the Smithsonian and all over the world, it is in very important collections and owned by very wonderful people. Trust me, that's all the bio you need. OK...OK... if you really want a bio, I will have my dogs cough it up for you.

My Dog Ate My Bio

Doing humorous work, people sometimes get me mixed up with the concept of not doing serious work. You can be serious and professional about doing your work, but you do not have to make all your work a serious subject. I think a lot of artists get this mixed up. They think that to be "fine art" it has to be a serious subject. This is all just a mix-up of the words. Dedication and professionalism are the words that should be used to define how an artist approach doing his/her work. The subject could be anything. My subject is mostly humorous because I think the world is serious enough already. In fact, just trying to maintain a sense of humor in this crazy world, is a job in itself.

I get the ideas for my pieces through my own personal experience. It's just the way I look at life, with all it's high tech, fast paced madness. I love all the high tech goodies and how they relate to our lives. This is where I am going with my work. I am expanding my work into the new multimedia cyberspace which is changing the way we will live forever. Future shows will have a mix of interactive experiences and performances. I am working with new media that will bring a new continuity to my work. In other words, the best is yet to come.

So hey - laugh a little. Humor, aesthetics, and imagination are unique to the human experience. Dogs don't laugh, (believe me I have tried every joke I know on my two dachshunds) only humans do. So take advantage of it, next lifetime, you may be a dog.

Want Current Roark --- Go to his Blog

Roark at Wikipedia