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  • How Much Earth For Sale?,2022
earth, concrete, wood, metal, paint
  • How Much Earth For Sale?
    Building with rammed earth is the one of the oldest techniques. Civilizations have historically relied on earth as an available material - it is durable, cost effective with minimal environmental impact.

    How Much Earth is for Sale? is conceived as a monument, even for those with whom we disagree. We have become a nation of judgmental provocateurs, leveraging social media platforms to saturate the popular zeitgeist with superficiality, while evading taking responsibility on what’s at stake: access to justice, historical redress, environmental disasters, and racial inequity. We are spurring divisions and conflicts within our communities and households.

    A staple of federal and state cases related to Native American land title for 200 years is Johnson v. M'Intosh, 21 U.S. (7 Wheat.) 543 (1823). The landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court held that private citizens could not purchase lands from Native Americans. The legal result was that the only conveyances executing valid transfers of land title ownership with Native Americans were the one transacted with the Federal Government: creating a system of monopoly, annihilating free market-style biddings and enabling the acquisition of Native American lands at the lowest possible cost.

    The home frame replicates that of a Monopoly board-game piece and the lines of the home painted in ‘warning and safety’ color orange.
  • HMEFS_7022RT_web How Much Earth For Sale?, 2022, earth, concrete, wood, metal, paint 11 x 14 x 6 feet
  • HMEFS_7115RT_web How Much Earth For Sale?, 2022, earth, concrete, wood, metal, paint 11 x 14 x 6 feet
  • HMEFS_7149RT_web How Much Earth For Sale?, 2022, earth, concrete, wood, metal, paint 11 x 14 x 6 feet
  • HMEFS_4696i_RT_web How Much Earth For Sale?, 2022, earth, concrete, wood, metal, paint 11 x 14 x 6 feet
  • HMEFS_4690i_RT_web How Much Earth For Sale?, 2022, earth, concrete, wood, metal, paint 11 x 14 x 6 feet
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  • The Modern Doubt, 2019, wood paint, pigmented wax, 22 x 20 x 14inches
  • I Don't Know, You Don't Know, They Don't Know
    With the abundance of mash-ups, fake news, and half-truths circulating, as a culture we can’t sort and evaluate the information we see fast enough to understand it. In response, I turned my research to archeological and archetypal symbols. History etched in stone is less mutable than its digital counterpart, though human behavior remains consistent. Throughout history we’ve seen the impervious systematic destruction of heritage by the power of ideological reasoning and self-serving political agendas. While the stories we have to guide us now are too tied to personal agenda to guide us, the ancestral truths and connective longevity foraged from our ancestors, tell tales of life, death, love, friendship, war, peace, sex and freedom. What is the legacy of contradicting ideologies in education and culture? How can we reconcile a dangerously forgetful history? Who knows what are the right questions to ask?
  • _MG_6607RT_web Hollow the Bone, 2021, wood, paint, stain, wax, metal, 47 x 11 x 10 inches
  • james_gilbert_we did thi to oursleves We Did this to Ourselves, 2020, wood, stain, pigmented wax 37 x 28 x 25 inches
  • legsRT_web There are Those that are More Equal Than Others, 2021, wood, stain, wax, 37 x 10 x 11 inches
  • james_gilbert_kneel Kneel, 2020, wood, stain, pigmented wax 20 x 22 x 22 inches
  • RT_MG_6617_web The Authority, 2021, wood, paint, stain, pigmented wax, metal, 19 x 18 x 17 inches
  • standing-black-RT-WEB The Great Migration and Age of Exploration, 2019 wood, stain, paint, pigmented wax, 68 x 19 x 13 inches
  • _MG_6618RT_web How Can I Blame You When it's Me I can't Forgive, 2021, wood, stain, wax, 25 x 8 x 7 inches
  • _MG_6620RT_web Please Wait Patiently, 2021, wood, paint, stain, wax, 34 x 15 x 12 inches
  • james_gilbert_the conscience of the nation must be roused The Conscience of the Nation Must be Roused, 2020, wood, stain, pigmented wax 25 x 7 x 19 inches
  • _MG_6615RT_web Looted Objects are too Valuable that is Why We Can't Return Them, 2021, wood, paint, stain, wax, 19 x 7 1/2 x 9 inches
  • The Act of Generosity and War, 2019, wood, paint, stain, lacquer, pigmented wax, metal, plastic, 53 x 15 x 15inches The Act of Generosity and War, 2019, wood, paint, stain, lacquer, pigmented wax, metal, plastic, 53 x 15 x 15inches
  • james_gilbert _does not begin and end the way we seem Does Not Begin and End the Way We See, 2020, wood, stain, pigmented wax 32 x 22 x 25 inches
  • _MG_6534_RT_WEB I Don't Know How to be Everything to Everyone, 2020, wood, stain, pigmented wax, 18 1/2 x 11 x 9 inches
  • What We are Proposing What We Are Proposing, 2020, wood, stain, pigmented wax, dyed rope, found metal chair, vinyl 52 x 20 x 20 inches
  • _MG_6622RT_web The Thing you are Looking for is the Thing you Weren't Looking For, 2021, wood, stain, wax, 31 x 11 x 12 inches
  • chair-white-heads-RT-WEB My Sense of Humor is Complicated by My Personality, 2019, wood, paint, stain, lacquer, pigmented wax, found chair, 44 x 36 x 28inches
  • _MG_6643_RT_web Evening Would Bring Its Familiar Strangeness, 2022, wood, stain, metal, wax, 10 1/2 x 30 x 13 inches
  • _MG_6621RT_web It Must be Obvious There is Contradiction, 2021, wood, paint, stain, wax, 28 x 12 x 10 inches
  • IMG_0518_RT_web More Than Intelligence is Wisdom, 2020, wood, stain, wax, 16 x 19 x 10 inches
  • standing-man-hand-boob-RT-WEB Absence of Evidence is Not Evidence of Absence, 2019, wood, paint, pigmented wax, metal, 42 x 26 x14inches
  • salmon-two-heads-RT-WEB Misinterpreted Memories About Oneself, 2019, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 42 x 12 x 12 inches
  • hand-above-head-RT-WEB Suggestibility is a Tendency to Believe, 2019, wood, paint, pigmented wax, metal, 33 x 22 x 10inches
  • single-head-three-pink-legs-RT-WEB Like the Best Kept Secret That's Not Even a Secret, 2019, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 31 x 13 x13 inches
  • chair-two-legs-RT WEB The Fictional Analogy of Death, Love, Friendship, War, Peace and Sex, 2019, wood, paint, stain, lacquer, pigmented wax, metal, found chair, 39 x 19 x 78inches
  • three-heads-RT-WEB All the Pleasures of Beauty and Beneficience, 2019, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 33 x 18 x 17inches
  • big-one-RT WEB Without Beauty, Love or Danger it Would Almost be Easy to Live, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 16 x 11 x 16 inches
  • three-heads-balance-RT-WEB A Reasonable Alternative Solution to Admire Our Problems, 2019, wood, paint, pigmented wax, metal, 57 x 17 x 10inches
  • _MG_6517RT-WEB The Problem and the Solution, 2020, wood, stain, paint, pigmented wax, magnet 13 3/4 x 4 x 4 inches
  • purple-head-RT-WEB The Beauty of Death is Presence, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 23 x 10 x 13inches
  • salmon-guy-RT-WEB Culprit, 2019, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 29 x 14 x 10inches
  • single-purple-bent-head-RT-WEB Weight of Evidence was Overwhelming, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 20 x12 x 10inches
  • IMG_3740 We'll all be Ghosts to Someone at Some Point, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 35 x 11 x 11inches
  • _MG_6515RT-WEB I Wrote a Poem so you Know, 2020, wood, stain, paint, pigmented wax, magnet 12 x 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches
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  • Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature
  • Arrogance & Evidence
    I have been examining the systematic destruction of culturally significant architecture and environments - attempts to destroy cultural heritage and the relationship to place therefore devastating familial history. My research has led me to the necessary protection of buildings and ecosystems during equally culpable historical periods of war or natural disasters and climate change. There is an opposition between scientific evidence and arrogant denial. The abstract use of sandbags function as a protection but also as a long-term symbolic representation of what they are protecting. Here, digitally printed wallpaper was made from photographing colorful variations of hand-dyed and sewn pink and orange canvas sandbags. They have the appearance of a theatrical backdrop behind a deep trench dug into the earth. An intentionally manufactured illusion between artifice and reality. I see these barriers having several functions depending on point of view: the wall serves as a physical environmental defense with a trench often used during martial operations; visitors can actively climb into the immersive trench including themselves within the protective barrier. Or, the colorful printed backdrop and hole create an out of place sense of imagined theatre. This project is on-going and to be created site specifically in other forms in outdoor environments and within interior spaces.
  • IMG_8853 COPY Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature
  • IMG_9163 Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature
  • IMG_8873 Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature
  • IMG_9231 Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature
  • IMG_9008 Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature
  • IMG_7970 Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature, wood chips, man made environment
  • IMG_6281 2 Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature, wood chips, man made environment
  • IMG_8020 Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature, wood chips, man made environment
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  • Truth and Reason, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 9 x 28 x 10inches
  • Plastic Primitive
    There is an interest in defining a period of our collective history and cultural understanding through objects of symbolic meaning used for ritual and cultural identity. While some objects have fetishistic qualities others are used for such reasons as fertility, worship or shamanistic idols. Exploring the vitality and power of primitive tribal art and the banal objects of pop culture are used to compress these apparently opposing elements into objects of meaning and humor.
  • two heads james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 18 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
  • pink hands james gilbert Hearing Voices is Not What Destroys Us, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 11 x 30 x 23inches
  • single head james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 21 x 7 x 7 inches
  • reclining nude pink james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 8 x 34 x 9 inches
  • three heads james gilbert
    Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 31 x 6 x 6 inches
    three heads detail james gilbert
    Untitled (detail), 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax
  • pink head on boob full james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 11 x 19 x 12 inches
  • 5894 james gilbert For the First Time I Really Saw Beyond the Appearances, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 18 x 15 x 13inches
  • single head 2 james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 18 x 8 x 7 inches
  • reclining nude yellow james gilbert Possible Partner to Venus, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 10 x 30 x 8 inches
  • tall yellow james gilbert
    Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 38 x 11 x 9 inches
    tall yellow detail james gilbert
    Untitled (detail) , 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax
  • large head james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 27 x 11 x 12 inches
  • foot james gilbert A Mystery, Fetish, Neurosis and Fragmentation of Ourselves, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, mirror 20 x 22 x 16inches
  • orange pink headsjames gilbert A Better Fictional Analogy, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 9 x 26 x 10inches
  • 5888 james gilbert Untitled, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 16 x 11 x 19inches
  • head on stick james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 15 x 5 1/2 x 5 inches
  • 5901 james gilbert My Sense of Humor is Complicated By My Moodiness, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 14 1/2 x 27 x 11inches
  • pink skulls james gilbert That Which We Are, We Are, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 20 x 14 x 12inches
  • three yellow heads james gilbert Untitled, 2018, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 17 x 14 x 11 inches
  • orgin of a species james gilbert Origin of a Species, 2017 wood, paint, 31 x 19 x 10 inches
  • 3852 james gilbert
    You Have a Strange Mind, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 25 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
    3854 james gilbert
    You Have a Strange Mind, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 25 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
  • 3874 james gilbert You Have a Beautiful Mind/There Are Two Options, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 29 x 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches
  • 3843 james gilbert Real Fake, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 18 x 8 1/2 x 9 inches
  • 3842 james gilbert Is There Any Brilliance in Last Memories? 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 22 x 11 x 10 inches
  • 3868 james gilbert
    Attraction and Intimacy, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 29 x 5 1/2 x 19 inches
    3872 james gilbert
    Attraction and Intimacy (back), 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 29 x 5 1/2 x 19 inches
  • 3893 james gilbert There May be a Reasonable Alternative, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 14 x 7 1/2 x 8 inches
  • 3860 james gilbert Harder, Better, Faster, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 26 x 6 x 8 inches
  • 3976james gilbert
    Three Stages of Ecstasy, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 71 x 11 x 10 inches
    3987james gilbert
    Three Stages of Ecstasy, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 71 x 11 x 10 inches
  • 3887 james gilbert There Are Only Two Dates That Have Meaning, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 22 x 5 1/2 x 6 inches
  • 3900 james gilbert I Want to Tell You Something But I Can't, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 13 x 10 x 9 inches
  • 3863james gilbert Something from Nothing, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 26 x 5 1/2 x 10 inches
  • 3848 james gilbert A Solution and a Problem, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 23 x 8 x 5 1/2 inches
  • 3923 james gilbert Tell Me What You Like, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 11 1/2 x 7 x 6 1/2 inches
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  • How Much Earth For Sale?,2022
earth, concrete, wood, metal, paint
  • The Modern Doubt, 2019, wood paint, pigmented wax, 22 x 20 x 14inches
  • Untitled, 2019, vinyl, wood, rope, nature
  • Truth and Reason, 2017, wood, paint, pigmented wax, 9 x 28 x 10inches
  • A Historic Point of Interest and Other Landmarks, 2016 (installation view) hand-dyed canvas, wood, paint, marble, dimensions variable
  • There's Fragility in Protecting What You Have, 2016, wood, varnish, wax, acrylic paint, 26 x 44 x 11 inches
  • Destroyed #1 by James Gilbert
  • One Blank Round (detail), 2015, 8x8x8 feet, hand-dyed canvas, polyester rope, wood, paint, metal
  • 1968, 2013, 35 x 92 x 40 inches, hydrocal, pigment, wax, wood, varnish
  • Rough Trader, 2012 James Gilbert
  • My Pervy Bone, 2013, 8 1/4 x 18 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches, found chewed bone, neon, wood, varnish, electronics
  • WrestlingShoes2_2741
  • Social Foreclosure 1_1276_james_gilbert
  • Warnings & Instructions (Fun Raft of Medusa), 2010, 9 x 12 x 14 feet, plastic, thread, wood, paint
  • Worker (detail) 2011, 10 x 20 x 60 feet, found fabric
  • james gilbert
  • ClothesHomePage9437_467.m James Gilbert