Carl Gabriel

About

His practice is anchored in carnival culture, and draws on its traditions and themes. In the wire structures he creates, he draws on the Caribbean tradition of wire-bending. Bamboo and wire frames are covered with layers of paper and PVA, and hand painted or sprayed.

For his presentation at Preston Road Library a series of these sculptures will be displayed as static works, alongside a new commission. A presentation of photographs from the artists’ archive will chart the development of his ‘social sculpture’, and its relationship to community and identity.

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Carl Gabriel is a London-based artist. Born in La Romain, Trinidad, he studied and worked as a metal engineer before studying photography. Using his photography he has built an extensive photographic archive of London’s Notting Hill Carnival. Gabriel is internationally known for his expertise in the art of wire bending to create carnival costumes and sculptures.

He has worked on commissions for the British Library, London, The Ohio State University, US, Heathrow Airport, London, Liverpool International Carnival, Hindu Council of Brent Diwali Festival, Kinetika Arts Links International, Carnival at the V&A London and Manchester Day Festival.

Carl has presented sculptures for London’s Notting Hill Carnival, Diwali and St Patrick’s Day in West London, and for the Mayor’s Thames Festival. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham, Heathrow Airport, London and Chelsea Gallery, London.