Mixografia is pleased to announce Francesca Gabbiani: Years After, new editions by Francesca Gabbiani. This will be the first exhibition at Mixografía for this Los Angeles based artist. The print will be on view in conjunction with an exhibition by the artist at Mixografia (1419 East Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90011) Derelict Empathy, opens on Saturday, September 10th from 4pm-6pm PST.
Gabbiani’s editions are the latest in a body of work that gives viewers a humane perspective on life within natural urban landscapes. Gabbiani chooses places that often collect urban debris in a way that echoes the presence of its surrounding population. The exhibition includes monotype editions produced in three base colors with unique placements of highlighting color on each print.
The artist’s technique of using tiny cutout paper forms to create three dimensional layered collages sets the stage for a perfect collaboration between Gabbiani and the bespoke printing processes at Mixografia, with their attention to texture and contrast. The meticulously-carved paper pieces tell a story of “non-places” that we often ignore. These neglected plots of the “in-between”, unexploited by our capitalist society, are transformed into new havens for the unwanted. Collections of the forgotten become the new subject and birth of an entirely new scene, rich with contrast and littered with whispers of human existence. Each print in this edition is made in a similar way; however, the tiny colorful marks, which are now fused to the print, are actually cut out pieces of paper that have been added to the press before printing on in-house handmade paper.
Original works of art from the artist’s private collection as well as a continuous screening of her film, Baby’s on Fire, will be on view concurrently with the editions. These works reveal that Gabbiani is fascinated with man-made materials that either look like they are from nature or have been literally infused with nature over time. Her subjects consisting of dramatic landscapes, interiors, and architecture, are based on historic movie sets as well as her own chosen seedy Los Angeles surroundings.
Fire season has become an extremely powerful force of destruction in many parts of California and Gabbiani’s close encounter with these fires impacted her practice profoundly. Walking through burned ruins of mid century architecture, reduced to abstract forms, she experienced the same kind of feelings she has towards abandoned places. Looking at such experiences in a removed way is her talent, and seeing them as an object helps her work in a detached mental state. These manufactured forms have been rendered organic by the incredible forces of nature and turned into something else entirely. When finding these ambiguous areas of urban ruin, she returns time after time to sit, ponder, and place these forms in a new abstract paradigm.
Francesca Gabbiani (b. 1965 in Montreal, Canada) earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from UCLA, having previously studied at Rijkskademie can Beeldende Kunsten (RAKB) in Amersterdam and Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts (ESAV) in Geneva. She has had solo exhibitions at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, NY; Patrick Painter in Los Angeles, CA; Lora Reynolds Gallery, in Austin, TX; and Monica De Cardenas in Milan, Italy, among others. Gabbiani’s work has been exhibited in such prestigious institutions as the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland; Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA. Her work is included in such public collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA.