Gabrielle Anderman investigates female trauma, power and resistance with her solo exhibition “Reparable Arm” opening Sept 28 at TAG Gallery, Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, September 14, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Gabrielle Anderman’s solo exhibition “Reparable Arm” opens Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at TAG Gallery, 5458 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles. A reception is scheduled for Saturday, October 1, from 4-8pm PST and a Zoom artist talk is scheduled for October 12, 2022 at 7pm PST. The exhibition is on view through Saturday, October 22, 2022.

Anderman’s expressive, vulnerable exhibition investigates the female body, its parts, its power, its subjugation and resistance to the male gaze, digesting childhood trauma, sexual assault, and objectification. She gave herself the freedom to reimagine history and myth from a feminist perspective, and to reclaim and reinvent her own life experiences as a little girl, an adolescent, a daughter, a wife, a mother, a student and a spiritual seeker. Essentially, Anderman challenges the myths and stratification of gender that have been perpetuated through time and repetition, which systematically devalue women's experiences, promote objectification, and justify violence.

In explaining the evolution and integration of myths in contemporary culture, Michael Woods (PSB, Myths and Heros) explains "Each generation of storytellers adds another layer of fact and fiction to the myths, such that the themes and characters of myths are timeless, and endlessly relevant, as they are reinvented and reapplied to the lives of each new generation."

How different the world would be if we could reshape our perceptions of formative experiences. And what if we could step outside of the myths that have historically defined womanhood to self-determine the feminine experience in a modern sense. Cultural moments such as the “Me Too” movement and the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade demonstrates the necessity of this undertaking. Anderman explains, “I am driven to explore and express our vulnerabilities, to create works that touch upon subjects that are difficult to talk about. I am a seeker of the edge of the unknown. I want to touch something beyond words, beyond the mind.”

This series includes medium and large scale paintings, charcoal drawings, and soft sculptures inspired by the figures in her 2D works. The resulting paintings are powerful. Formed through intuition, feeling and emotion, they speak to that space where we hide the uncomfortable and unspoken experiences we all share. These are paintings that attempt to free the body, heart and mind from the wounds of the soul. They are an expression of a heart unafraid to face pain and, in so doing, create a cathartic experience for others. They are a reflection of the shadowland of human experiences, and by opening a space to see and feel these phantoms, maybe we can free ourselves from the weight of this mortal coil.

“If I’d Been There” harnesses the power of abstract form and color, and the emotional force of expressive painting to convey an image fraught with subjective weight. A figure sits on the floor, a chair lies behind her. Her face is a mask of confusion, pain, or rage. A dark shadowy form behind her adds psychological pressure to the space. “What We Hide” is a vulnerable, Janus-faced woman: half an idealized image of feminine allure and half a face with mouth agape, vomiting. It is a reflection of self-inflicted harm that many women impose on their bodies to look the way our culture has deemed perfect- the paradox of beauty as an ideal becoming a form of enslavement. In “Fleeting Innocence”, Anderman captures a moment of vulnerability and expectation through the image of a young girl, free from what will come when her body changes and becomes an object of desire. The deep currents of history fraught with violence and beauty have formed the expectations and rules that we are expected to live by.

Rather than striving for realism, Anderman works intuitively, surrendering to the work in the present. She uses acrylic, oil stick, charcoal and colored pencil on heavyweight etching paper and canvas, layering images, delving into the fantastical, and allowing figures to distort and emote. Painting through fear, frustration, anger, and vulnerability, she described how she came to a place of spaciousness and compassion, “I felt like I was no longer painting for myself, but for many women.”

Gabrielle Anderman has exhibited throughout the United States and is represented in public and private collections throughout the world. She graduated with highest honors from UCLA’s School of the Arts where she studied with noted artists including Lari Pittman, Barbara Drucker and Roger Herman. She spent a year abroad studying painting at the Beaux Arts schools in Pau and Paris. She works with charcoal and pastel on paper, acrylics and oil stick on paper and canvas and mixed media. She was raised in California and currently lives and works in Maui, Hawaii.

TAG Gallery is a contemporary gallery located on Museum Row in the Miracle Mile/ Wilshire Blvd district of Los Angeles, California. The Gallery represents award-winning contemporary Southern California local artists working in all mediums and styles.

Kristine Schomaker
Shoebox Arts
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