Jeffrey Gibson USA, b. 1972
YOU HAVE SET MY SOUL ON FIRE, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, glass beads and artificial sinew inset
into custom wood frame
into custom wood frame
82 x 74 in
208.3 x 188 cm
208.3 x 188 cm
7276
2019 MacArthur Genius Grant award winner Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, USA) blends the aesthetic heritages of Native America, rave culture, and punk rock, breathing new life into the traditions of...
2019 MacArthur Genius Grant award winner Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, USA) blends the aesthetic heritages of Native America, rave culture, and punk rock, breathing new life into the traditions of Modernist Abstraction. In his paintings, sculptures, garments, performances and films, indigenous craftwork and ancient abstract references coalesce to form metaphysical bridges between 20th century art movements like Geometric Abstraction, Neo-Dada and Pop Art, and contemporary fields of inquiry such as Relational Aesthetics, Institutional Critique and Identity Politics.
This painting debuted in 2019 in CAN YOU FEEL IT, Gibson's first solo exhibition at Kavi Gupta. Inspired by four years in the mid-1990s when Gibson called Chicago home, the exhibition’s title echoes the classic house jam of the same name by Chicago-born DJ Larry Fine, a.k.a. Mr. Fingers. Lyrical musical references are embedded into the compositions of these paintings via Gibson's idiosyncratic, geometric abstract alphabet.
Says Gibson, “This was a period when house music was so welcoming and inclusive, and being in Chicago was very optimistic. There was a space carved out for people of different backgrounds coming together and celebrating each other, letting everything go and having a good time. It felt hopeful. That was a big critical experience for me in terms of thinking about how to respond to a challenging larger culture.”
Artist Background:
2019 MacArthur Genius Grant award winner Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, USA) has developed a jubilant and ever-evolving studio practice that blends the aesthetic heritages of Native America, rave culture, and punk rock, breathing new life into the traditions of Modernist Abstraction. In his paintings, sculptures, garments, performances and films, indigenous craftwork and ancient abstract references coalesce to form metaphysical bridges between 20th century art movements like Geometric Abstraction, Neo-Dada and Pop Art, and contemporary fields of inquiry such as Relational Aesthetics, Institutional Critique and Identity Politics.
Recent exhibitions include the 2019 Whitney Biennial, Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer, at the Seattle Art Museum, and Aftereffect, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO. Works by Gibson are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Gallery of Canada, the Nasher Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and many others. Gibson is a TED Foundation Fellow and a past recipient of the Joan Mitchell Grant.
This painting debuted in 2019 in CAN YOU FEEL IT, Gibson's first solo exhibition at Kavi Gupta. Inspired by four years in the mid-1990s when Gibson called Chicago home, the exhibition’s title echoes the classic house jam of the same name by Chicago-born DJ Larry Fine, a.k.a. Mr. Fingers. Lyrical musical references are embedded into the compositions of these paintings via Gibson's idiosyncratic, geometric abstract alphabet.
Says Gibson, “This was a period when house music was so welcoming and inclusive, and being in Chicago was very optimistic. There was a space carved out for people of different backgrounds coming together and celebrating each other, letting everything go and having a good time. It felt hopeful. That was a big critical experience for me in terms of thinking about how to respond to a challenging larger culture.”
Artist Background:
2019 MacArthur Genius Grant award winner Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, USA) has developed a jubilant and ever-evolving studio practice that blends the aesthetic heritages of Native America, rave culture, and punk rock, breathing new life into the traditions of Modernist Abstraction. In his paintings, sculptures, garments, performances and films, indigenous craftwork and ancient abstract references coalesce to form metaphysical bridges between 20th century art movements like Geometric Abstraction, Neo-Dada and Pop Art, and contemporary fields of inquiry such as Relational Aesthetics, Institutional Critique and Identity Politics.
Recent exhibitions include the 2019 Whitney Biennial, Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer, at the Seattle Art Museum, and Aftereffect, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO. Works by Gibson are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Gallery of Canada, the Nasher Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and many others. Gibson is a TED Foundation Fellow and a past recipient of the Joan Mitchell Grant.