NEW AMERICAN STILLNESS
May 8 - June 13, 2026
Artists' Reception & Talk:
Saturday, May 16, 3 - 5 pm
Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday:
Friday, June 5, 5 - 9 pm
Mercury 20 - Back Gallery
475 25th Street, Oakland CA
View my recent work and explore the quiet psychological presence of the contemporary American landscape.
Milk Barn Afternoon Blue
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
16 x 16 $1000 framed Buy
2026
Inverness Elevation
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
36 × 36 $2500 framed Buy
2026
Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
12 × 36 $1800 framed Buy
2026
House on Shore Road
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
36 × 36 $2500 framed Buy
2026
Brown Shingle, Same Chairs
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
36 × 36 $2500 framed Buy
2026
Josiah Walker Moved His Shed
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
36 x 36 $2500 framed Buy
2026
Hedging on the Corner of B and 3rd, Pt. Reyes
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
16 x 16 $1000 framed Buy
2026
Perry Hill Screen Porch
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
18 × 24 $1500 framed Buy
2026
Still Here
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
24 × 36 $2000 framed Buy
2026
Edgewood Farm Table in Blue
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
16 × 16 $1000 framed Buy
2026
Emerson’s Field
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
16 × 16 $2000 framed Buy
2026
Belden’s Parlor
Acrylic and graphite on wood panel
18 × 24 $1500 framed Buy
2026
Interested in purchasing a painting from the show?
Paintings can be purchased through Mercury 20 Gallery in-person or online.
Founded in 2006, Mercury 20 is a contemporary art gallery established, supported and operated by San Francisco Bay Area artists. Mercury 20 maintains a gallery space in Oakland, CA as well as an online sales platform. A collective operating structure supports the ability to experiment, develop, exhibit, advance work and sustain the arts community.
About the Show
New American Stillness by Gustave Carlson explores the quiet psychological presence of the contemporary American landscape. Focusing on ordinary architecture—coastal houses, open lawns, interiors, still lifes, and expansive skies—these paintings place absence at the center of experience.
Rather than narrative, Carlson emphasizes observation, structure, and atmosphere. Buildings act as anchors within broad fields of light and color, suggesting both stability and solitude. Subtle tonal shifts allow spaces to feel at once specific and timeless, inviting viewers to consider how shadow, memory, and perception shape place.
While Edward Hopper often conveys psychological isolation and Fairfield Porter captures domestic intimacy, Carlson draws from both to explore architecture as a perceptual construct rather than a narrative stage. In these restrained scenes, stillness is not emptiness but presence—an invitation to look longer and see more. His work suggests that the contemporary American landscape, when closely observed, continues to offer moments of quiet depth and reflection.
Artist Bio
Gustave Carlson is an architect and principle of Gustave Carlson Design in Berkeley, California, and a painter exploring the quiet tension between architecture, light, and lived space. He is the author of Pacific Modern Houses of Northern California (ORO Editions, 2018), a widely acclaimed survey of regional modernism. His award-winning architectural work has received international recognition and appears in Elle Decor, Dwell, Wallpaper, The New York Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Carlson holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and studied painting there under Color Field painter Adele Alsop. He has attended residencies at Edgewood Farm at Castle Hill in Truro, Massachusetts, and Studio Faire in Nérac, France. His paintings have earned honors including Best in Show at the Greenwich Art Society and have been exhibited at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Tiburon Library Gallery, Greenwich Art Society, and Mercury 20 Gallery. His work is held in private collections.