Greg Decker

Irises: Abstract Still Life Painting of Purple Flowers on Dark Yellow Background

2016

Greg Decker has been a professional oil painter for 35 years. Currently living just outside of Nashville Tennessee, his early influences were European and African. He was raised in Congo (Belgian Congo/Africa) and that still shows through in his work. Decker holds two MFA degrees from Cranbrook Academy of Art (MI) and the New York Academy of Art (NYC). He studied with Leland Bell, Fairfield Porter, John Moore, Vincent Desiderio and Martha Erlebacher and was recommended by Jack Levine and George Tooker to spend two seasons painting at The MacDowell Colony (NH). He spent 12 years in Philadelphia, then 12 years in New York City, where he taught at both MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a Visual Teaching Artist through Lincoln Center Institute. Decker at home lectured in museums and galleries and during this time spent valuable time in Europe (UK, France, Italy) painting and studying major collections. One series of 20 drawings was completed in two weeks in a hotel room in Rome and spent much time painting in Brittany. Currently, he is planning to be in France, teaching in Valmondois (outside of Paris) with Amelie de Gaulle's "France With Friends" cultural immersion adventure. Teaching his series of workshops in painting, Decker moved to Nashville (TN) and Asheville (NC) for a total of eight years, during which time he began sculpting (figure/clay), produced etchings and woodcuts. He immersed himself in literature and poetry and this continues to deeply influence my work. After five years in New Mexico, where he produced his frieze paintings, he returned to Nashville to stay, choosing a studio outside of town, where the landscape is a constant source of inspiration. He continues to paint prolifically, read profusely, write sporadically and enjoy music continually: mostly choral, solo piano, hard soul, early psychedelia, obscure and inimitable garage music.