Visiting Artist
Claes Gabriel
Wednesday, Oct 19
7:15pm - 9:55pm
Bldg C
C1 Highbay
About the artist - Originally born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti — Claes Gabriel (pictured above) immigrated to the United States in 1989 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1999. Inspired by modernists such as Frank Stella and Sam Gilliam, Gabriel’s work lives beyond the confines of a flat wall; he stretches and sews canvases taut over wooden armatures to construct masks and free-standing statues. After considering the natural shape of the piece, Gabriel uses bright acrylics to pull out patterns, eyes, lips, and personality that seem to rise to the surface of their own free will. He has been exhibited in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Baltimore, MD; Washington DC; and Paris, France. Gabriel’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. Gabriel depicts beauty, order, and evocative quasi-modernist realism in works that symbolize individualism.