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. This series includes medium and large scale paintings, charcoal drawings, and soft sculptures inspired by the figures in the 2D works. Anderman 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. How different the world would be if we could reshape 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.”
Anderman’s work speaks to that space where we hide the uncomfortable and unspoken experiences we all share. Rather than striving for realism, she 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.”
