I approach my work as an effort toward better understanding histories and cultural foundation identity, where it comes from, dynamics that influence it, how we use it in reaction to social structures and the relationships that either benefit or become apprehensive by it. It provides me a better perspective of myself and the community that I am living and working or visiting during my travels. How does one protect and foster a community of symbolism and unifying cultures without having a better understanding of globalization, cultural diversity, inequality, religion and values?
Responding to information presented by way of news, politics, personalities, and cultural events, which collide daily in an abundant global mash up and define a period in our collective history and cultural understanding. The systematic destruction of heritage as an attempt to destroy cultural diversity through religious or ideological reasoning, political agenda, activism or cultural curation has caused me to reflect on our ancestors and connective longevity. While I have been exploring my own biography and family history it seems senseless to me not to simultaneously explore factors that also make us who we have become.
I interpret these ideas in environments, often working in a series of objects, large quantities and installations that may also incorporate video, sound, drawing or performance. I utilize common construction materials such as industrial plastic, plywood, canvas and plaster – each containing inherent characteristics that become salient in the core forms and in concept – transparency, plasticity, layered, breakable.
Past work on identity includes themes such as disaster, abuse of power, civil liberties, economics, and mortality. Each is presented through my own visual defense mechanism, perhaps light-hearted and with a sense of humor to aid in my comprehension of complex topics. Whereas the disaster may also be a playground, civil liberties a carnival game, internal structures become externally nomadic, or protective barriers become the symbolic object they are protecting. I regard the work as a series of questions.
The work has been exhibited in The United States, China, South Korea, Colombia, Denmark and has been reviewed in such publications as ArtForum, Artillery, Hyperallergic, The Huffington Post and Sculpture Magazine.
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Vowed to Learn Blood Type After a Near Fatal Nosebleed, PYO Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
A Historic Point of Interest and other Landmarks, PYO Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sledgehammer.Bullet.Bomb, Manhattan Beach Art Center, Manhattan Beach, CA
No Shame in Them Thar Woods, Woven, West Hollywood, CA
Worker, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia
Worker, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
Warnings & Instructions, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
The Privacy of Underpants, Part II – PYO Gallery 798, Beijing, China
The Privacy of Underpants – PYO Gallery South, Seoul, South Korea
I Know Everything About You and We Haven’t Met – Light & Sie Gallery, Dallas, TX
(Don’t) Want to be Anonymous?, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Plastic Primitive, LeStudio, Paris, France
A Short Survey of Contemporary Abstraction, Sandy Bennett Gallery, Bergan Center for Performing Arts, Englewood, NJ
Thrive, Avenue des Arts, Los Angeles, CA
On Bodies, The Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas, TX
A Narrow Passage, Noysky Projects, Los Angeles CA
LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
Women’s Work: Masculinity and Gender in Contemporary Fiber Arts, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
Moist, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
UnDressed:An Eposé of Conceptual Garments and Accessories, Santa Cruz Institute of
Contemporary Art, Santa Cruz, CA
Acceleration, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas TX
Eye Candy, Couturier Gallery. Los Angeles, CA
Show & Tell: the art of pop culture, Zimmer Childrens’ Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Outfitters: The Contemporary Art of Clothing, Bedford Gallery,Lesher Center for the Arts, Wanut Creek, CA
An Exchange with Sol LeWitt, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA
The Social Graph, Hyperallergic, Brooklyn, NY
Unrealised Potential, Cornerhouse Gallery, Manchester, UK
Instructions, Platform4, Aaloborg, Denmark
Transitive Pairings:Body Objects, Centraltrak, University of Texas, Dallas, TX
Manifold: An Exhibition of Editioned Works, The Public Trust, Dallas, TX
Our History, Light & Sie, Dallas, TX
Tigersprung: Obscure Couture in the Now-Time, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX
MOCA Fresh, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
We Are Here, PYO Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
What’s the Matter with Mommy, The Hangover, curated by Shana nys Damdrot, Phantom Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Heaven and Hell, Christie’s, Beverly Hills, CA
Aqua, Light & Sie, Miami, FL
Gracias a la Vida, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
What’s the Matter With Mommy, curated by Shana nys Dambrot, Salon Oblique, Los Angeles, CA
Gastronomia | erótica y estimulante, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX
Heaven, Christies, Beverly Hills, CA
Los Angeles Art Fair, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Present Art XIV A Small Show of Small Works, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Acceleration, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
Privacy is Dead Because We Said So, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, CA
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE
Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
Centraltrak: The University of Texas at Dallas Artists Residency, Dallas TX
Metro, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Los Angeles, CA
Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Grant, New York, NY
City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Exchange
International Grant
The Danish Arts Council, International Artist Grant
Manhattan Beach Art Center, CA
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE
Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Wanut Creek, CA
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
Sundays With Andy: Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, Modern Art Museum of
Forth Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
Mount Saint Mary’s, College, Los Angeles, CA
Light & Sie, Dallas, TX
Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Bahadur, Tulika, “Natural Disasters, The Destruction of Heritage: Installations by James Gilbert,” OnArtandAesthetics.com, August 30, 2017
“Tweeted, Googled, Inappropriately Touched – James Gilbert, Artist to Watch/Visual Artist,” NakidMagazine.com, June 28, 2016
Goldman, Edward, “Art of War and Peace,” Art Talk, KCRW, kcrw.com, November 25, 2015
Wyszpolski, Bondo, “Protective Devices,” Easy Reader, November 19, 2015, Vol. XLVI-No.16, p.21, 24
Barton, Dave, “OCCCA Get’s ‘Moist'” OC Weekly, June 25, 2015
Solis, Chenoa, “Chenoa Solis Interviews Saatchi Online Artist James Gilbert in LA,”Saatchi Online Magazine, April 1, 2011
Terranova, Charissa, “James Gilbert,” Sculpture Magazine, March 2011, Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 70-71
Michno, Christopher, “James Gilbert and Jennifer Vanderpool,” Artillery, March/April, 2011, Vol. 5 Issue 4
Woods, Wes, “Pitzer College exhibit showcases different themes,” Inland Valley Dailey Bulletin, March 23, 2011
Cuevas, Steven, “Art exhibit at Pitzer College immerses visitors in a virtual sweatshop,” KPCC, www.scpr.org, February 15. 2011
Widdick, Richard, “Worker,” exhibition essay, Lenzner Gallery, Pitzer Art Galleries, January 27–March 25, 2011
Mills, Ted, “Full Exposure,” Santa Barbara Independent, August 27–September 2, 2010, p. 45
Odom, Michael, “James Gilbert,” Artforum, v. XLVII, NO. 10, Summer 2010, p.359-360
Terranova, Charissa, PhD “Orange Alert: Fashion, Frivolity in the Age of Terror” exhibition catalogue, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
Gleeson, Scott, “James Gilbert: Padding the Walls of the Labyrinth,” www,ovac-ok.org
Terranova, Charissa, PhD “James Gilbert Warnings & Instructions” A+C Magazine, March 2010, p. 26
Simek, Peter “The Modern Problems of the Dallas Contemporary,” D Magazine, March 2010
Arbery, Joan, “Melrose Place for Artists,” D Magazine, February 2010 p. 57-58
Carter, Steve, “The New Iconoclasts,” Dallas Modern Luxury, December 2009 p. 54-58
Nys Dambrot, Shana, Daily Dose Pick: James Gilbert, August 19, 2009, www.flavorwire.com
Terranova, Charissa, PhD “Celebrity Dread: Angst, Fame and the End of Privacy in the Work of James Gilbert,” exhibition catalogue, PYO Gallery South, Seoul, South Korea
Sparling, Gretchen, “High-Style Hideout,” Dallas Child, December 29, 2008
Terranova, Charissa, PhD “Privacy is a Perishable Commodity at Light & Sie,” review, The Dallas Morning News, July 7, 2008, 1E, 4E
Ingram, Kaitlin, “Stalking Art, Gilbert Doesn’t Know Us, But We’re Watching His Work,” Dallas Observer, June 22-28, 2008
Tellez, Lesley, “James Gilbert Talks Art, Underwear,” Quick, The Dallas Morning News, June 11, 2008
Quandri, Stephanie, “James Gilbert: Fashionable Art, “ FrontBurner, Dmagazine.com , June 4, 2008
Sheeler, Jason, “Meet the Artist,” FDluxe, The Dallas Morning News, June 2008, p. 6
Vartarian, Hrag, “James Gilbert On Tweeted, Googled and Inappropriately Touched,” November 23, 2010, Hyperallergic TV, Hyperallergic.com
Mathews, Quin, “James Gilbert, Warnings & Instructions” documentary to accompany Dallas Contemporary Exhibition, February 16 – May 15, 2010
Art this Week, “Dallas Contemporary, James Gilbert,” February 2010, Episode 35, www.artthisweek.com
Cuevas, Steven, “Art exhibit at Pitzer College immerses visitors in a virtual sweatshop,” 89.3 KPCC, Southern California Public Radio, www.scpr.org, February 15. 2011
James Gilbert & Garth Bowden – Plastic Primitive, Limited Edition Coloring Book, Ed.100
James Gilbert – Warnings & Instructions, Dallas Contemporary, exhibition brochure
Heaven and Hell, The Art of Elysium, Los Angeles,
Privacy of Underpants, exhibition catalogue, PYO Gallery South, Seoul, South Korea
Heaven, Celebrating Ten Years of The Art of Elysium, Los Angeles
The Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas, TX
The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, IN