Known for paper works composed of layers of densely hand-cut paper, Gabbiani’s works depict charged moments that evoke altered states of consciousness. Inspired by a variety of sources including Gothic literature, architecture, horror and film noir, the gardens of Babylon, the animal kingdom and psychoactive flora and fauna, Gabbiani’s themes of ambiguity and ornamentation, the ominous and fantastic, result in psychic landscapes rich in allegorical imagery.
In 1969 Gabbiani’s family moved to Switzerland and in 1992 she graduated from Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts in Geneva. She studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and received an MFA from UCLA in 1997. She has held numerous solo exhibitions at Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX; Galleria Monica De Cardenas in Milan, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland; Patrick Painter, Los Angeles, CA; and Sara Meltzer Gallery, NY. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Paradise Row, London; Tucson Museum of Art, AZ; MoMA, NY; Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY and Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany. Gabbiani’s work is in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA; Metropolitan and Museum of Modern Art in New York; and in Switzerland is part of the City of Geneva Collection and CentrePasquArt in Biel. She is a recipient of Switzerland’s Placette Award, Providentia Award and Federal Award of Art, and the Uriot Award, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.