Solo exhibition at Erin Cluley Gallery, Dallas, Texas
October 8th – November 12th
Photographs by Kevin Todora
ERIN CLULEY GALLERY, Dallas Texas, is pleased to announce I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know, They Don’t Know – a solo exhibition by Los Angeles based artist James Gilbert. The exhibition will be on view October 8th through November 12th, 2022, at the gallery’s main location, 150 Manufacturing Street, Suite 210. An opening reception will be held Saturday, October 8th from 5 – 8 PM with the artist in attendance. The gallery is open weekly Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 5 PM and by appointment.
In his artistic practice, James Gilbert traverses a breadth of media all with an eye for whimsy, sincerity and style. His obsessive repetition of objects—rarely without his signature pink and white coloring—gives scale to the overwhelming accumulation of contemporary social injustices. Nonetheless, his flair for humor betrays a certain optimism, a willingness to play not as a coping mechanism, but as an exercise in possibility. Across his work, Gilbert allows for introspection: as viewers are encouraged to see clearer the blemishes and devastating absurdity that color our shared histories.
For his solo exhibition, I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know, They Don’t Know, James Gilbert explores themes of cultural heritage and genetic lineage—all with cutting wit. His bold figures show the talent of an artist fully confident in his abilities. Incorporating drawing and sculpture, Gilbert’s new work acknowledges the messy nature of community, not helped by the equally messy political and social climate of the past few years.
Gilbert’s use of raw, naturally-flawed materials—wood, wax and metal—conveys an honest uncertainty in what to make of the unfolding future. Half-human, Half-abstract figures continue their creator’s line of questioning; 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?
Presented in the gallery will be a selection of sculpture alongside a body of drawings – a dynamic and complex intersection of Gilbert’s practice. An installation of 138 drawings will cover one of the large walls in the gallery reinforcing the artist’s fascination with the stories told by faces and the changing of information over generations.
Gilbert states, “I believe in making work that unveils our human condition and also gestures toward the effort to understand cultural history and memory of being, time and place. For in this moment, I want to remain optimistic as sometimes you find yourself in a strange place and other times in a strange place you find yourself.”
I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know, They Don’t Know will be the artist’s second solo exhibition in Dallas. Gilbert’s first solo exhibition was in 2010 at Dallas Contemporary. His exhibition Warnings and Instructions was the inaugural exhibition in the museum’s Glass Street location.
150 MANUFACTURING STREET, SUITE 210 DALLAS, TEXAS 75207 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+ 214 760 1155
ERINCLULEY.COM
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Solo exhibition at Erin Cluley Gallery, Dallas, Texas
October 8th – November 12th
Photographs by Kevin Todora
ERIN CLULEY GALLERY, Dallas Texas, is pleased to announce I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know, They Don’t Know – a solo exhibition by Los Angeles based artist James Gilbert. The exhibition will be on view October 8th through November 12th, 2022, at the gallery’s main location, 150 Manufacturing Street, Suite 210. An opening reception will be held Saturday, October 8th from 5 – 8 PM with the artist in attendance. The gallery is open weekly Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 5 PM and by appointment.
In his artistic practice, James Gilbert traverses a breadth of media all with an eye for whimsy, sincerity and style. His obsessive repetition of objects—rarely without his signature pink and white coloring—gives scale to the overwhelming accumulation of contemporary social injustices. Nonetheless, his flair for humor betrays a certain optimism, a willingness to play not as a coping mechanism, but as an exercise in possibility. Across his work, Gilbert allows for introspection: as viewers are encouraged to see clearer the blemishes and devastating absurdity that color our shared histories.
For his solo exhibition, I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know, They Don’t Know, James Gilbert explores themes of cultural heritage and genetic lineage—all with cutting wit. His bold figures show the talent of an artist fully confident in his abilities. Incorporating drawing and sculpture, Gilbert’s new work acknowledges the messy nature of community, not helped by the equally messy political and social climate of the past few years.
Gilbert’s use of raw, naturally-flawed materials—wood, wax and metal—conveys an honest uncertainty in what to make of the unfolding future. Half-human, Half-abstract figures continue their creator’s line of questioning; 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?
Presented in the gallery will be a selection of sculpture alongside a body of drawings – a dynamic and complex intersection of Gilbert’s practice. An installation of 138 drawings will cover one of the large walls in the gallery reinforcing the artist’s fascination with the stories told by faces and the changing of information over generations.
Gilbert states, “I believe in making work that unveils our human condition and also gestures toward the effort to understand cultural history and memory of being, time and place. For in this moment, I want to remain optimistic as sometimes you find yourself in a strange place and other times in a strange place you find yourself.”
I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know, They Don’t Know will be the artist’s second solo exhibition in Dallas. Gilbert’s first solo exhibition was in 2010 at Dallas Contemporary. His exhibition Warnings and Instructions was the inaugural exhibition in the museum’s Glass Street location.
150 MANUFACTURING STREET, SUITE 210 DALLAS, TEXAS 75207 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+ 214 760 1155
ERINCLULEY.COM
Chrystalistasis
June 6-28
The Modern Doubt, 2019, wood paint, pigmented wax, 22 x 20 x 14inches
Lyons Weir Gallery, New York
Chrystalistasis explores the work and practice of 50 artists during this unique time of isolation and social unrest. Online group exhibition
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The Modern Doubt, 2019, wood paint, pigmented wax, 22 x 20 x 14inches
Lyons Weir Gallery, New York
Chrystalistasis explores the work and practice of 50 artists during this unique time of isolation and social unrest. Online group exhibition
Plastic Primitive – Signed, A Limited Edition Colouring Book
July 12
NOW AVAILABLE
James Gilbert / Garth Bowden – Plastic Primitive
Signed by both artists, Numbered, Limited Edition of 100, 34 black and white Plates
$25 with free shipping in the US, All others please inquire.
Contact me directly for your copy.
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NOW AVAILABLE
James Gilbert / Garth Bowden – Plastic Primitive
Signed by both artists, Numbered, Limited Edition of 100, 34 black and white Plates
$25 with free shipping in the US, All others please inquire.
Contact me directly for your copy.
Plastic Primitive
June 30 - September 28
James Gilbert & Garth Bowden, Plastic Primitive, Paris, France
An exhibition of new sculptures, drawings and photographs from Los Angeles based artist James Gilbert and Paris based Garth Bowden.
This exhibition is the culmination of an on-going conversation between the two artists and their individual studio practices. For the first time, the artists have proposed a joint residency together in France where all work is created along side each other, in response to each other, specifically for this exhibition.
This dialogue between the two artists marries the language and structures of primitive visual forms with images from contemporary pop culture. Setting in play contradictory elements – objects of symbolic meaning used for ritual and cultural identity versus objects devoid of meaning – the products of consumerist pop society such as plastic toys, games and cartoons.
There is an interest in defining a period of our collective history and cultural understanding. Drawing from the vitality and power of primitive tribal art and the banal objects of pop culture, both artists seek to compress these apparently opposing elements into objects of meaning and humour.
“The conscious search in history for a more deeply expressive, permanent human nature and cultural structure in contrast to the nascent modern realties.” Stanley Diamond, “In Search of the Primitive”
LeStudio, Paris, France
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James Gilbert & Garth Bowden, Plastic Primitive, Paris, France
An exhibition of new sculptures, drawings and photographs from Los Angeles based artist James Gilbert and Paris based Garth Bowden.
This exhibition is the culmination of an on-going conversation between the two artists and their individual studio practices. For the first time, the artists have proposed a joint residency together in France where all work is created along side each other, in response to each other, specifically for this exhibition.
This dialogue between the two artists marries the language and structures of primitive visual forms with images from contemporary pop culture. Setting in play contradictory elements – objects of symbolic meaning used for ritual and cultural identity versus objects devoid of meaning – the products of consumerist pop society such as plastic toys, games and cartoons.
There is an interest in defining a period of our collective history and cultural understanding. Drawing from the vitality and power of primitive tribal art and the banal objects of pop culture, both artists seek to compress these apparently opposing elements into objects of meaning and humour.
“The conscious search in history for a more deeply expressive, permanent human nature and cultural structure in contrast to the nascent modern realties.” Stanley Diamond, “In Search of the Primitive”
