Rendering / abrading / redacting / repairing

Anne Gilman

Curated by Seph Rodney

FiveMyles is pleased to present a solo exhibition of works by Anne Gilman, curated by Seph Rodney. The exhibition includes 8 large-scale scroll drawings that map information, thought, and emotion. Gilman’s expanded scroll forms, with their dense extemporaneous writing and atmospheric references to land and water, move into the space of the room or interact with her sculptural forms made with glass, clay, plaster, and sand. The drawings are layered with texture and lines of cursive writing that express urgency and repose, a minute-by-minute reckoning of how in flux she finds the world. This work shows both the rage and the desire for equanimity that she has experienced (like many of us) throughout these last years.

The titles of Gilman’s drawings provide a context for some of the material that sparked the work. Works like What’s left behind (2022), based on a satellite photograph of one of the first bombings in Ukraine that includes suspended objects behind the scroll and Flashpoint (2021), made at the height of the pandemic and during the nation-wide Black Lives Matter protests, mourn a year stricken with anger, grief, and frustration. Repetitive scratching and mark-making break through the surface of the drawing and Gilman’s minimal yet specific use of color suggests gravity and heat. Fragments of text within the drawing such as, “I thought the fires had stopped but I was mistaken,” allude to the devastating fires that raged through California and reveal parts of Gilman’s process; writing freely and then self-editing as thoughts and feelings shift with time.

The inclusion of a Yahrzeit candle at the base of the drawing (used in the Jewish religion to honor loved ones who have died) memorializes those lost at the hands of the police and to the pandemic. It’s important to note that as Seph Rodney states in his essay, Containing the Agitation,“…Gilman’s response to the surfeit of crisis isn’t desperation. The art here has metabolized the rage, has been transmuted by a pencil driven by Gilman’s hand to carve out a separate peace in this distressed and troubled land.”

You can see that desire for peace in Landing and in A place you may or may not know where expanses of landscape and water provide a welcome pause from the divisiveness. As in previous work, Gilman’s scroll drawings include extemporaneous writing where she uses events that occur around her as material for considering loss, anger, violence, illness, and discord, along with contemplative practice, silence, hope, desire and equilibrium. Her detailed scrolls create an entry point for shared experience and the possibility of connection amidst our current challenges.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 4PM:

Gallery Talk with Anne Gilman and Seph Rodney, curator and free-lance writer.

about the artist:

Anne Gilman’s work has been included in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Solo exhibitions include At the still point of the turning world at Anne Reid Gallery in Princeton; Up close/ in the distance/ now at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, outside of Detroit; In any one day, how all the things get mixed together at Five Points Center for the Visual Arts in Torrington, CT; Descifrar/ to decipher, decode, figure out at Instituto Cervantes in NYC where she created a floor drawing onsite, incorporating noise, conversations and interactions with visitors as part of the work; The Jolly Balance at The Center for Book Arts in NYC; Paper Line Edit at University of the Arts in Philadelphia; Observations, Errors + Corrections at Mansfield University Gallery in Mansfield, PA; Protección insuficiente y otras preocupaciones (Insufficient Protection) at Galería Raúl Martínez in Havana, Cuba; and Obras en tela papel at Casa Cristo (de Luís Barragán) in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Gilman has received fellowships from MacDowell, The Edward Albee Foundation, Chenven Foundation, The Cultural Space Studio Program in Dumbo/Brooklyn, AIM with the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Brooklyn Arts Council. Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, Bomb Magazine, Guernica Magazine, Art Spiel, Vasari21 and Publishing Perspectives. Her prints and artist books are part of the special collections of The British Library, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Brooklyn Museum, The Center for Book Arts, New York Public Library and The Library of Congress. Ediciones Vigía in Matanzas/Cuba published a bilingual version of her artist book, Frayed Edges and her artist book, this place/this hour, was recently included in an exhibition commemorating the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman.

about the curator:

Seph Rodney, PhD, is a former senior credit and opinion editor for Hyperallergic. He has written for the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC and other publications. He is featured on the podcast The American Age. His book The Personalization of the Museum Visit was published by Routledge in 2019. In 2020 he won the Rapkin Arts Journalism Prize.

GALLERY HOURS:

Thursday - Sunday, 1 - 6pm, or by appointment. Please email hanne@fivemyles.org, or call 718-783-4438.

DIRECTIONS:

Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

FiveMyles is in part supported by the New York State Council for the Arts, Public Funds from the New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Council Member Laurie Cumbo, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, the Perlemeter Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Joseph Robert Foundation, and the William Talbott Hillman Foundation.

November 26, 2022 – January 15, 2023

opening reception: Sunday, December 4, 4:30-7pmclosing reception: Sunday, january 15, 4-6pm

GALLERY TALK WITH ANNE GILMAN AND SEPH RODNEY: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 4PM