Painter, sculptor, and former dancer Gabriela Gil closed out her first New York solo exhibition, “Time and Space”, with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. The private event was held at a gallery on 484 Broome Street, next to MarieBelle New York. Guests had a chance to view Gil’s collection one last time while enjoying chocolate treats from MarieBelle New York. The Honduras-born, NYC-based artist’s exhibition was extended through January 31st, 2021 to present an introduction of some of the favorite paintings from the Siamese series, the body of work Gabriela Gil made while living in San Francisco. The exhibition encompasses works from the past 3-5 years.
On the “Time and Space” series “I’ve been working on this series for two years,” Gil says. “My previous work was more figurative, and this new series breaks away from the figure completely. This is making way to abstract work that explores line, color and rhythm."
Notable attendees included: Gabriela Gil, George Wayne, Robi Ludwig, Paula Vassallo, Rosanne and David Isom, Cygalle Dias, Dale Cohen, Maria Cosentino, Giselle Leon Gomez, Jessica Leon, Norah Lawlor and Jeffrey Bradford of Lawlor Media Group, Michael Payne, Selima Salaun, Pedro Silva, and Stefan Martin.
In volume one of the series, Gil shows roughly 20 highly detailed miniature sets, inspired by the hand-made nativity scenes she saw as a child in Latin America, each with small paintings. The miniatures are displayed alongside large-scale paintings from the series.
Despite having worked on the project for years, Gil says that the Covid-19 pandemic recontextualized her vision. She says that she is leaning into the fact that people have been exposed to high levels digital content during the Covid-19 lockdown – the time during which she created the second half of the series.
“We are all consuming content on this tiny screen,” she says. “So, the idea was to create a play on perception. A lot of my paintings in this series are really big. I wanted the virtual exhibition itself to become an artwork.”
Gil has moved throughout South and North America for her entire life and that “constant migration” shaped her multicultural perspective and nurtured her “interest in art as a way to transcribe personal experience using a unique visual language.” This series is heavily inspired by Latin America - its colors, its textures, its dances, its nature, and its warmth. However, I wouldn't say this series encompasses my whole Latin American experience. Maybe another way to put it is that I am exploring my roots or going back to my roots with Time and Space, with the intention of building from there.
“I thought, if we can’t actually go somewhere physically, what is a way we can travel to a different place without really going?” she says. “And if I can only show the content virtually, on the tiny screen, then why not flip it on its head, go all the way and do something that would be harder to do in real life at a physical showing.