Francesca Gabbiani; Years After

About

Francesca Gabbiani’s editions are the latest in a body of work that gives viewers an empathetic perspective on life within natural urban landscapes. The places the artist has chosen to represent are areas in which nature and urban debris have fused in a way that echoes its surrounding population.

The artist’s studio practice of assemblage with intricate cut outs of paper creates three-dimensional layered collages with attention to texture and contrast. This sets the stage for a perfect collaboration between Gabbiani and the bespoken printing processes at Mixografia. The meticulously cut paper pieces tell a story of “non-places” that we often ignore. These neglected plots of the “in-between'' are transformed into new havens for the unwanted and the discarded. “Collections of the Forgotten”, as named by the artist, become the subject and birth an entirely new scene that is rich with contrast and littered with the gossip of human existence.

The monotype editions are produced in three base colors: blue, black, and brown. They all feature unique placements of brightly colored paper cuts. These cut-outs have been painstakingly painted, shaped and diligently placed in a unique arrangement on the surface of the printing plate before the actual process takes place. With pressure applied, the little pieces melt into the top layer of the handmade paper.  The inked surface of the print is raised, creating a secondary landscape. This process creates an idea of democracy between the ruins depicted, the terrain of the print, and the paper remnants. All of these elements co-exist and feed off each other in a continuous dialogue.

A screening of her film, “Sea on Fire”, as well as additional works will be on view concurrently with the prints. This body of work reveals Gabbiani’s fascination with man-made materials that either appear from nature or have melded into it over time. Her subjects, consisting of dramatic landscapes, interiors, and architecture, are based on her own chosen seedy Los Angeles surroundings.

Fire season has been an extremely powerful force of destruction in many parts of California and Gabbiani’s close encounters with these natural disasters impacts her practice profoundly. Walking through burned ruins of mid-century architecture that have been reduced to abstract forms, she experiences the same kind of feelings she has towards abandoned places. 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, meditate and place these forms in a new abstract paradigm.

Francesca Gabbiani’s work can also be viewed in Los Angeles at MOCA Geffen and the Hammer Museum as well as at the Horsetooth International Film Festival in Fort Collins, CO where her film “Sea of Fire” is being shown.

Francesca Gabbiani (b. 1965 in Montreal, Canada) earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from UCLA,having previously studied at Rijkskademie van Beeldende Kunsten (RAKB) in Amsterdam and EcoleSuperieure des Beaux Arts (ESAV) in Geneva.

She has had solo exhibitions at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, NY; Gavlak in Los Angeles, CA; Patrick Painter in Los Angeles, CA; Lora Reynolds Gallery, in Austin, TX; and Monica DeCardenas in Milan, Italy and Zuoz Switzerland 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 ArtMuseum, 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.