Hope Gangloff

About

Wigmore sleeps perhaps too soundly on a suburban lawn; Blaze glowers through parted elevator doors; Ben sits in a windowsill, light from the street illuminating a modest hoarder’s paradise. These are but a few of the characters that populate Hope Gangloff’s world and so her paintings. Surprisingly these candid moments are not captured in the instant, but contrived and painted wholly in the studio. Complete sets are built in the service of spontaneity, to create the semblance of I.R.L. Caught up in the backdrops are the bits and pieces, attributes and signifiers that serve to individualize and distinguish the sitter. Current events and popular culture are captured in the mix by way of news clippings and assorted ephemera, grounding each painting in the present day. In the end, friends, family, admirers, admired arrive in Queens to sit for hours and days all to see their essence materialize on canvas. Their presence and engagement lends a palpable dimension and depth, infusing each painting with a humanity that radiates from sitter to painter to viewer. Painting from life, Hope Gangloff paints Life.