10 November, 2015 – 27 February, 2016
Exhibition
If you visit Jeff Gabel's goodreads profile, it will tell you that the artist read over 28000 pages this year (and counting). Talk to him and he will admit to a slightly lower amount (closer to 26000) but whichever number you choose, it's still prodigious. To those familiar with Gabel's work, this may not be surprising. Well known for his small-scale, cutting portrait and text drawings, he has increasingly been shifting his attention to a larger scale: wall sized drawings often serving the dual purpose of English translation from languages such as German, Finnish, Veps… and interpretation in his antic, deadpan style.
In what will be his seventh solo exhibition with the gallery, Jeff again turns to a wall drawing of epic proportions as he prepares to fill the gallery with his off-beat drawing and rambling prose. As a twist, he will instead be focusing on his own writing rather than that of others, composing an off-the-cuff narrative that threatens to overwhelm the space. As the title suggests, it will pull inspiration from the vast quantity of reading material he has absorbed in the past year, as well as the drawings and text he has produced over the same period. In keeping with Gabel's aesthetic, the drawing will evolve organically over a period of weeks, with the gallery open to the public to view the artist in progress.
Artist Bio
Jeff Gabel (born 1968, Portland, OR) draws in a sketchy, frenetic manner that serves to highlight the hidden neuroses of his subjects. He received his BFA from Kansas State University and went on to get an MFA from Pratt Institute in 1995. His drawings and installations have been shown worldwide, with solo exhibitions at Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum; MONA, Tasmania, among others. Reviews of his work have appeared in numerous publications including Artforum, The New York Times, Flash Art, as well as having original drawings featured in the art publication, GARGARIN.
Further Reading
Jeff will be working in the gallery the following days in November:
Saturday the 14th
Tuesday the 10th and 17th
Thursday the 12th and 19th
Friday the 20th
You can follow his progress on our facebook page.