Gregory Scott has always blurred the lines between painting and photography, beginning with his photographs that incorporated painted images of himself or parts of his body. The resulting images were both humorous and odd, challenging the viewer’s perception of photographic truth. At the age of 49, Scott expanded his knowledge of video and art history by returning to school to earn a Master of Fine Art from Indiana University. He graduated in 2008 with a body of work that blended all of his artistic interests: photography, painting and video.

Continuing to use himself as the model, Scott creates narrative pieces that use illusion and surprise to tackle issues ranging from identity and loneliness to the way the art world has pigeonholed the various mediums in which he works. In his pieces, Scott challenges the definitions of photography, painting and video, expanding its discourse.

This dialogue can be seen in Fridge, which shows a photograph of a refrigerator with a postcard, a child’s drawing and family photos stuck to the door. Three of the items on the door are actually video monitors embedded into the photograph that play back moments from the artist’s childhood. One of those items, the postcard, shows video of the artist walking along the shores of Lake Michigan. In Escher-esque, we see a man sitting on a bench in a museum below an M.C. Escher-like painting that hangs above a flight of stairs. The Escher-like image is actually a video in which Scott is shown going up and down the stairs. Through these photo-painting-video pieces, Scott creates the narratives that challenge the viewer’s perception of art and the many ways it can be presented.