Trent Gudmundsen

Farm-raised oils with thick brushwork and quiet edges

Trent Gudmundsen is an American artist born in California in 1978.

“I have found that a painting is more than the subject itself; it is also more than the paint itself; it is a balance between the two, like letting both the dancers and the music create a ballet.”

Trent Gudmundsen grew up in a small Utah farming community and began oil painting at age 14, later attending college on a full-tuition art scholarship but frequently painting in nearby fields instead of attending classes.

Trent Gudmundsen left school to paint on his own and moved to Colorado, where he met and married Lorajean, and that same year Southwest Art magazine recognized him in their “21 Under 31” article.

Trent Gudmundsen’s work has been recognized with top awards including at the American Impressionist Society National Exhibition and two Oil Painters of America National Exhibitions, as well as the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society’s “Best of America” Exhibit in 2019.

Trent Gudmundsen’s paintings are traditional in theme but painted with a contemporary approach, often simplifying parts of the painting down to graphic blocks of color or subduing edges until they almost meld with the background.

• Born in California in 1978.
• Started oil painting at age 14.
• Attended college on a full-tuition art scholarship.
• Married Lorajean and has five children.
• Lives in a hand-built stone farmhouse near Preston, Idaho.

Trent Gudmundsen’s goal is to say more with each painting while giving the viewer more opportunity to fill in the rest of the visual story, making his works suggestions for the viewer to remember or create an experience unique to them.

Trent Gudmundsen is inspired largely by European and Soviet impressionists and realists, and his work seeks to be both accurate and subdued while tantalizing the viewer with implied texture and thick brushwork, creating works that become more gratifying the more they are viewed and lived with.

You can follow Trent Gudmundsen’s latest paintings on his own website, trentgudmundsen.com.