Artist R.L. Gibson

×
Artist R.L. Gibson

Tag: Xerography

#DIKY opens

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

Do I Know You-- Xerography by Artist R.L. GibsonDo I…
Know You?

 

Apparently, I do…know you.  Thanks to all of you that came out to the opening of my show “Do I Know You?” at The Balcony Gallery at The Emporium Center on July 4th.

The breadth of common experience will simply take your breath away–or mine, as the case may be.  I met artists and critics.  I met those who appreciated the work and those that took issue with the unofficial tagline…

“Smile. Everybody dies.”

 

Do I Know You?-- Xerography by Artist R.L. GibsonConversations about life, and death, and all of the muddy stuff in the middle.  I was moved by all of the personal stories you shared and questions that you asked.

I was amazed by all of the thoughtful conversation.

 

I’ve opened a lot of shows, both as a gallery director and as an artist, but this one was definitely unique. I was amazed at the level of personal sharing and inquiry (vs. pseudo-academic yammering).  Thank you.

Changes are on the horizon & my newest series…is already incubating.

Stay tuned!

PRESS RELEASE: Arts & Culture Alliance Presents “Do I Know You?” by R.L. Gibson

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

"Do I Know You" by Xerographist R.L. Gibson(06/18/2014-Knoxville) – The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present “Do I Know You?”, a new series of Xerography on canvas with hand-drawn patterns by local artist R.L. Gibson. “Do I Know You?” uses the body as the ultimate betrayer by appropriating historical, formal portraiture of children and adults in the prime of their lives and juxtaposing those images with a forced consciousness of life-altering and/or terminal illness via layering of historical anatomical drawings. “In the span of one year, my father died in a tragic car accident due to a complication from diabetes, I had a surgery often reserved for women 20 years my senior, and I became the guardian for my 91 year-old grandmother in the end stages of dementia,” says Gibson. “My grandmother always asks, ‘Do I know you?’, and I began to realize this is what we all ask of ourselves throughout life and of our bodies when they inevitably fail us.” Gibson’s retro-influenced works with a tinge of humor will be displayed in the Balcony at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from July 4-26, 2014, and an opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on July 4 from 5:00-9:00 PM.

R.L. Gibson is a nationally-shown artist, juror and editor that calls Gatlinburg, TN home along with her husband, photographer Jon Ives, and son Oscar.  Gibson works almost exclusively as a Xerographist, producing complicated layered compositions and then hand-transferring these images to a variety of substrates resulting in a unique monotype.  Xerography, as a medium, has neither a standard place in institutional art instruction nor a documented history. Gibson has spent years refining her hand-palated technique. The “skips” are not flaws but the unique result of the process.

Now I See by Xerographist R.L. GibsonIn addition to producing her own work and work in collaboration with other artists, Gibson and her husband also perform as the Appalachian singing duo the Pea Pickin’ Hearts. Gibson also serves as the Editor for ArtAndArtDeadlines.com, a fun and quirky, food-themed art blog that offers reviews of emerging artists, shows from great galleries, and FREE Art Deadlines and Calls for Entry as an artist’s resource. 

 The Emporium is free and open to the public. The exhibition hours for “Do I Know You?” are: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM; and (NEW!) Sundays, July 6 and July 20, 3:30-6:30 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Saturday, July 5.For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit the Web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

Also on display in the Emporium during the same time frame:

Then & Now – A celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the Emporium Center’s reopening

Works by Jim Parris & Gwendolyn Kerney

Knox Heritage – 2014 Art & Architecture Tour Photographs

About the Arts & Culture Alliance
The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions. The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission (www.tn.gov/arts), the City of Knoxville (www.cityofknoxville.org), and First Tennessee Foundation (www.firsttennesseefoundation.com).

 TAC_logo

Contact: Suzanne Cada
PO Box 2506
Knoxville, TN 37901
(865) 523-7543
sc@knoxalliance.com

www.knoxalliance.com

SHOT from the HIP

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

Inspiration Photo for "Shot from the Hip"--a part of the DO I KNOW YOU? series by Artist R.L. GibsonTRUE LOVE
departed

My grandparents divorced when my father was a teenager.  While my grandmother was bitter, Dad felt under-appreciated & Uncle Darryl sulked, I just thought Grandpa was  faux-grouchy prankster.

Our days were filled with ice cream trips, tickle fights, playing house–and the eyebrows.  He had the craziest eyebrows EVER.  He would drag his fingers across his brow bone until they met in the middle.  The resulting woolly-worm brows sent me into an endless spiral of giggling.

He re-married the lovely Anna who developed severe rheumatoid arthritis at a very young age.  She suffered dozens of surgeries & joint replacements only to lose most of her mobility.  He happily waited on her hand & foot.  He carried her to & from bed.  He cut her food.  He colored her hair.

He LOVED her.  I loved him.

 

At 69, Anna left this world too soon. A few months later after a routine hip surgery, he developed staphylococcal meningitis.  His body just quit.  The piece inspired by this photograph is entitled “Shot from the Hip,” and the show of which it is a part, Do I Know You? opens in July of 2014 at The Balcony Gallery at The Emporium Center in Knoxville, TN.

For Updates, Follow me on Facebook!

Bated Breath.

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

Mary Magdaline Horton Baker inspires Artist R.L. Gibson's DO I KNOW YOU? seriesmeet
MAGGIE B.

My great aunt Mary Magdalene Horton Baker was a hoot.  She was divorced young and never re-married or had children of her own.  My father, uncle and cousin were HER children, of sorts, but mostly it was ME.  She was a leather-tanned wild woman with bleached hair, skin-tight jeans and a bikini top well into her 60s.  She was the life of EVERY party, and EVERYONE was invited.  I remember the devilish smile and the pooh-poohing of the convention espoused by all the other adults in my life.

So, as a kid in our family, all I really wanted to do was wait until she got off the swing shift to pick me up at midnight in her convertible with the leopard seat covers.  We would make our way to her feather painted bedroom & climb into her bed with the red velvet headboard & watch the then, new-fangled “cable TV” & eat cocktail shrimp out of the can.

In July 2005, Maggie B. died of acute respiratory failure due to  a 3-year battle with emphysema.  She was a social smoker for 60+years but never seemed to have a health concerns.  Then at 78 her body just stopped co-operating & said “Enough” despite the fact that she wasn’t done living.  I love her so much.  This is a pic of her (late-1970s) at approx. 55 years old.

The piece inspired by this photograph is entitled “Bated Breath,” and the show of which it is a part, Do I Know You? opens in July of 2014 at The Balcony Gallery at The Emporium Center in Knoxville, TN.

For Updates, Follow me on Facebook!

Pass the Bottle

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

Inspiration for the DIKY series by Artist R.L. Gibson!Progress…

I am making progress on the “Do I Know You?” series.  I completed the first stage of a piece named Pass the Bottle last night.  And, while I can’t share it until closer to the July 4th show opening (at The Balcony Gallery at The Emporium Center in Knoxville, TN), I can show you one of my inspirations.

Meet Darryl
6 months
March 1949

 

He was a beautiful child, and as an adult he became the ever-popular sideshow exhibit known as Uncle Darryl.  He was a wonderfully and wildly-inappropriate adult influence on me by most measures, and absentee parent to his only child.  I thought the world was a much better place with him in it.  He helped me successfully make a huge decision at age 13 that probably saved my life.

He physically survived a tour in Vietnam and mentally endured the aftermath of physical injury, PTSD & chemical contaminants with the only tools at his disposal—-a doting mother & many a liquor bottle.

In April of 2006, a heart attack ended the suffering he endured from a decade-long battle with cirrhosis of the liver.  He was 56 years old.  He betrayed his body after his brain betrayed him.  I love & miss him.  I SO wish he were here to be a questionable influence on MY child.

The “Do I Know You?” series will feature an image saluting his battle with cirrhosis as well as an image in tribute his struggle with PTSD & the aftermath of Agent Orange.

Follow me on Facebook for Updates!

RESULTS: Culturehall

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

CURATED by CultureHall

Thanks to CultureHall.com for the invitation to create a portfolio! (continues below)

R.L. Gibson listed on the CultureHall Directory

Culturehall is a curated online resource for contemporary art where selected artists can share their work with curators, gallerists, collectors and other artists. The community of artists consists primarily of MFA graduates, arts professionals and teaching artists. Membership is available by invitation or application.

FAMILY PHOTOS

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

Click to learn more about the Do I Know You? series by Xerographist RLGibson!…and
FAMILY
HISTORY

I have spent the last few weeks gathering family photos to get a little planning done for DIKY –since most of the hand-drawn patterns are completed.  And as I sit and look into the collective face of my family, I find an almost overwhelming responsibility to get it right…

For me.  For them. 

 

For the ones I never knew.  For the ones that will never know.  The key is to not get so  bogged down in the responsibility that my ability to work creatively is paralyzed.

But, the faces… I cannot escape the faces.

Do I Know You? by Xerographist, R.L. Gibson

The Tārā Project

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

Pieces of Me Ayra Tara by Artist R.L. Gibson!…om

 

I am not Buddhist but have a love of the idea of the Buddhist princess Tara.  Within Tibetan Buddhism, Tārā is regarded as a Bodhisattva of compassion and action.  Tara has 21 primary emanations, each of which performs different activities such as giving, diligence, the difficult, peace, patience and so forth.

Legend has it that she was urged to try to be reborn as a male, but she rejected that notion opting to pursue complete enlightenment as a woman.  And if you read the Praise of 21 Taras, you’ll understand how she became the inspiration for this little known work Pieces of Me: Ayra Tara (2007).  Aesthetically, this piece was a failure for me.  But, I never re-edited this piece because I came to realize that I didn’t make it to show.   It was and is personal.

A dual reminder that we are equipped to conquer all…
but all in due time.

Gluttony x 2

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

Gluttony attempt 2 by Artist R.L. Gibson…AD NAUSEUM

A couple of weeks ago, I published both the original and the final of Gluttony: The World’s Fattest Woman from the Psychomachia series.  And I appreciate the feedback I received.  Several people have asked if there were MORE gluttony images.  There are.  In fact, I finished the Gluttony piece last in the series because I just kept trying and then changing my mind.

The image at left was the second attempt–just after the circus tent piece.  If you look closely, you’ll note an apple tattoo on the right hip.  I thought it would be a subtle Adam & Eve reference providing the religious tie-in to the seven deadly sins.  But, the longer I looked at it, the more subtle it seem to become.

Gluttony attempt 3 by Artist R.L. GibsonSo, I went back to the proverbial, read ubiquitous, drawing board–enter the ACTUAL apple.  In a humorous nod to stock photography, I added a heart-shaped bite mark in the apple.  I liked this piece for about 5 minutes.   I trudged through other versions that were never edited, or even saved.

Sometimes I remind myself that while taking pretty pictures would be easier, I would never be at peace with a pretty picture.

I would never sleep
with all the ugly images
tumbling around in my head.

PIXELS or paper?

Posted on by R.L. Gibson

My Fair Lady by Artist R.L. Gibson, 2008decisions
DECISIONS
decisions

As much as I love the physical process of transferring images to canvas, the guts of my work happen as a part of DIGITAL collage.  Since the actual quality of the photograph isn’t my first concern, the photo shoots are all about capturing the content.  So, once again, the REAL STUFF happens in the collage process.  When I tripped across the Call below, I thought maybe I should mix it up occasionally and do a little hands-on collage work.  I wonder if it would alter the way I approach digital collage.  Hmmm…

This piece (above left), dubbed My Fair Lady, is one of a collection of found-object assemblage/collage pieces completed years ago at the request of a retail store in Gatlinburg.  This show (below) is a free entry and an all-hung exhibit.  Sounds like a no-risk opportunity.  Check it out, maybe this one will work for you too…

Learn more about the Collage and Mail Art show!CALL for ENTRIES:
Mail Art/Collage Art

ELIGIBILITY: All artists

MEDIA: Collage & Assemblage Art (newspaper, ribbons, papers, artwork, texts, photographs & other objects on paper/canvas) –per the call.

DEADLINE:  September 10, 2014

ENTRY FEE:  None

AWARDS:  All works will be exhibited online at http://collage–art.blogspot.com & at Tymutopiyapres in Lviv, Ukraine.

Interested? Read the Call at AAAD!