The Human Condition by Jylian Gustlin
Saturday, March 7th 2026 - Sunday, April 26th 2026
Upcoming Programming:
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Join us for the Opening Reception of Carrie Ann Plank and Jylian Gustlin's Solo Shows: Saturday, March 7th, 2026 from 4-6PM | FREE
RSVP to the Opening Reception here!
“I’m not a typical artist as I am both a computer programmer and an artist.”
–Jylian Gustlin
Jylian Gustlin was raised by technology. A native of Silicon Valley, Jylian grew up in Almaden, San Jose. Both of her parents worked at IBM, her father as the director of the computer center and her mother as a senior vice president. A self-prescribed “computer baby,” Jylian and her siblings grew up crawling around the computers at IBM. Because of her upbringing, computers have always held a sort of magic, and technology has always been intertwined with her art. She proclaims, “My brain can’t think of making art in any other way because I’ve been raised by technology.”
Jylian is a computer programmer and artist; both parts of her identity have always been interchangeably intertwined. She spent the first half of her career working at Apple as a computer programmer and art director. For the past twenty-five years, she’s worked as a full-time artist creating large-scale mixed-media work that utilizes traditional materials with computer applications. Embedded in her artwork is a nod to her love and experience experimenting with technology. Her paintings convey the same complex layering often seen in computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Jylian is an artist who loves color. On view are works from her recent series, Prophecy and Alchemy, which explore the layering of color and abstract elements to evoke an appreciation for nature and to celebrate its chaotic beauty. In Entropy 56, she explores the scientific theory of entropy—a lack of order or predictability—that is translated onto canvas, building layer upon layer to illustrate the inevitable changes that surround us. Equus is a painting created in collaboration with her brother, the artist Dave Gustlin. Both have a love for horses, and between Dave’s realism mixed with Jylian’s expressionist style, the two dance around one another to create a work of art that celebrates and captures a sincere appreciation for nature.
Jylian sees technology as art and her marriage of the two provides a canvas for her to explore her appreciation for nature, scientific theories, and her own inner consciousness, ultimately communicating our connection to each other and the world around us.
Jylian’s work can be found in public collections such as Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, CA, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute in Oslo, Norway, VISA Global Headquarters in Foster City, CA, the Andrew Grove Foundation, Intel and Oracle in Santa Clara, CA, IBM in San Jose, CA, and Spaulding Hospital in Cambridge, MA.
Jylian Gustlin was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the technological innovations of the Silicon Valley have profoundly influenced both her passions and her art. Although she was only one semester away from earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics, Jylian left her program to attend the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. In her artwork, Jylian merges the capabilities of modern technology with traditional techniques, achieving effects such as complex layering—similar to those seen in programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator—using only acrylic and oil paints. She is driven by a desire to push the creative boundaries of both digital tools and traditional mediums. Her process involves drawing, painting, and scratching with materials like epoxy resin, oil and acrylic paints, charcoal, wax, gold leaf, pastels, and graphite to discover their unique effects.
Jylian has held a lifelong love for Bay Area Figurative artists, and they have always been an inspiring part of her work process. The characters in her work are frequently set in an alien-like, futuristic landscape that is both moody and brooding. In recent years, she has focused on a series of paintings, both abstract and representational, that explore Fibonacci mathematical theories. These works investigate the connections between Fibonacci numbers, flower petals, and musical scales, with a focus on the geometries of spirals and rectangles. Jylian's ongoing fascination with the intersection of science, mathematics, and art continues to drive her creative exploration.
