Greg Day was born in Brunswick, Maine, in 1964, and grew up in rural Brooks, Maine.  From an early age Day was fascinated with space, light and urban landscapes and became determined to study architecture.  He enrolled at the University of Kansas where he completed the rigorous Architecture/Architectural Engineering program, a six year dual degree.  It was during his time in college that Day discovered his other passion: painting.

In 1987 Day moved to New York City where he worked as a lighting designer and architect, while also furthering his painting practice with the help of a Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant.  Day has since become a devoted and active artist, but considers himself more a “builder of paintings.”

Day’s background becomes apparent in his work; he is directly influenced by the disparate environments of rural Maine, the Midwest, and large cities.  Space and light play key roles in the images he creates, the relationship between the foreground grids and the atmospheric backgrounds becomes at once minimal abstraction and an exploration of spatial depths and perspectives, the scale of which is unknowable.

In 1994 and 1995 Day lived and painted in England and Prague.  It was during these years that he started to formulate the early ideas of the current project that he refers to as “Elva.”  In 1996, after his return to Portland, Maine, Day started producing the first of the “Elva” pieces.

Based on a schematic drawing aided with the use of architectural software, this meticulous method of patterning connects the paintings together both visually and literally.  If this drawing were printed out full size it would currently extend for over a mile.  It is upon this planned and somewhat rigid armature that Day has complete freedom to explore his interests in space, light, color, urban environments, stark landscapes, spontaneity and chaos.  Referring to his early architectural drawings, Day has said:

“I always took as many lines as I could right to the edge of the paper because I loved the idea that space was unlimited in all directions and it excited me that my projects weren’t limited to the size of the paper.”

This thinking certainly carries over to his paintings.  A theoretically infinite painting, “Elva” is the aggregate of various 16” x 12” panels, the basic “units,” which are united by bolting them together.  Day isolates small sections of “Elva” to create finite art from an infinite plan. The collective is a vision of acrylic earth tones, rich reds and blues, whites and blacks.

Day has shown his work in Maine, New York City, England and the Czech Republic and it is in collections throughout the U.S. and in Europe.  In 2006 he moved his studio to Bath, Maine, where he also lives with his wife Nicola and twin boys Keegan and Cooper.

April 2009