A CURIOUS QUIET offers two categories of works; abstract portraits and abstract landscapes.
Portraits
The portraits are defined by captured pauses. Faces of bold, deliberate lines intersect and interact with simple horizon lines grounding and isolating these figures; purpose and movement flow before and after the moment of capture, lending the portraits both intention and suspense.
Landscapes
Northern Wilderness Landscapes are warped perspectives of trees and loons resting in exaggeratedly blue lakes. These works are inspired by Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area, where I spent the summers of my childhood. Bright patches of vibrant green moss nestling over dark fallen tree trunks, towering pine and birch trees, velvety deep blue lakes, and a sky full of dashing colors anchor my memories of those times. Present throughout was the haunting call of the loon echoing across the lakes, a bold song as wild and enchanting as the surrounding terrain. These works illustrate the perfect strangeness of that world, the interplay of shadow and light in a landscape where everything seemed at once larger, closer, simple and mysterious.
Gail Gilbert, an accomplished self-taught visual artist as well as an acclaimed dancer, performer and choreographer, finished high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts with a diploma in Modern Dance. In New York Ms. Gilbert enjoyed a fulfilling career as a dancer with the Parsons Dance Company. She took up drawing and painting during the down times between touring dance gigs around the world. The first exhibition for her artwork was 1996 at Thread Waxing Space in New York City, in conjunction with a dance concert featuring her choreography with props, costumes and sets that she designed and made.
The influence of her training as dancer and performer is evident in her simple, direct, yet expressive lines. Both her paintings and theatrical works feature characters with bizarre and poignant agendas. Riddled with wit and intriguing metaphors, her work demonstrates a unique use of brilliant color that stimulates and challenges the imagination.
Currently living in Las Vegas, Gilbert has had two solo exhibits of her sculptures: TETHERED, at the Winchester Cultural Center Gallery in 2016 and WARP & WEFT, at the Clark County Government Center Rotunda Gallery in 2018. In 2020 & 2021 Gilbert presented COMING ABOUT, an exhibit of fifty-four ink-on-paper drawings, along with three large paintings extrapolated from drawings, at public library galleries: Centennial Hills Library Art Gallery, Enterprise Library Art Gallery & Laughlin Library Gallery. Her works can also be found at Priscilla Fowler’s Fine Art Gallery on Main Street in Downtown Las Vegas.
In addition to her work as a visual artist, Gilbert continues her onstage work playing the Nursemaid in Cirque du Soleil’s production of KA, at the MGM Grand Casino.
On exhibit at the East Las Vegas Library from January 9, 2024 through March 10, 2024
Monday: 10:00AM – 8:00PM
Tuesday: 10:00AM – 8:00PM
Wednesday: 10:00AM – 8:00PM
Thursday: 10:00AM – 8:00PM
Friday: 10:00AM – 6:00PM
Saturday: 10:00AM – 6:00PM
Sunday: 10:00AM – 6:00PM
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