DAVID GISTA FICTIONS - Robert T. Wright Com Gallery of Art

gista:Gista

10/29/08

11:10 AM

Page 1

DAVID GISTA: FICTIONS

NOVEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 15, 2008

D AVID G ISTA

F ICTIONS

G ALLERY HOURS : Mon-Thu 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Fri & Sat 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Sun 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Closed: Nov 26 - 30 GALLERY INFORMATION: 847-543-2240

W EB

E MAIL : [email protected] http://gallery.clcillinois.edu/

PAGE :

COVER ART: David Gista, Desert Island, 2008, 51” x 35”, Mixed media

College of Lake County The Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art is a project of the College of Lake County Foundation. This program is partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

R OBERT T. W RIGHT C OMMUNITY G ALLERY C OLLEGE

OF

L AKE C OUNTY

OF

A RT

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D AVID G ISTA : F ICTIONS


EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

1

In libris, 2006, 52” x 64”, Acrylic on canvas

3

The Great Sleep, 2007, 72” x 60”, Mixed media

2 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Club Dumas, 2007, 60” x 40”, Mixed media Illuminati, 2008, 36” x 48”, Mixed media Lumieres, 2008, 30” x 40”, Mixed media

Desert Island, 2008, 51” x 35”, Mixed media

Dantz Mit Mir, 2008, 40” x 60”, Acrylic & burnt paper mache Way Up, 2008, 60” x 40”, Acrylic & burnt paper mache Mini Matrix, 2008, 24” x 30” Mixed media Archipelago, 2008, 40” x 60”, Mixed media

Ladder, 2008, 30” x 22”, Mixed media/paper

Petit Exlibris, 2007, 30” x 22”, Mixed media/paper Night Watch, 2008, 22” x 30”, Mixed media/paper

Petit Rendez-Vous, 2008, 22” x 30”, Mixed media/paper The Ladder, 2008, 40” x 26”, Burnt paper

Library Genie, 2008, 26” x 40”, Burnt paper K, 2008, 22” x 30”, Burnt paper

Numbers, 2008, 22” x 30”, Burnt paper

Ladies Wit, 2008, 47” x 24”, Mixed media

Gentlemen Twist, 2008, 54” x 54”, Mixed media

All works are courtesy of Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL

INTRODUCTION

David Gista’s exhibition Fictions seems to fit like a glove in the College of Lake County’s gallery space. The artist’s paintings and works on paper depict images of library interiors with towering shelves of books. What better venue to exhibit these paintings than in a gallery that resides within a library? There is, however, more to these works than at first meets the eye.

We live in an information age of vast electronic and printed media. Gista’s libraries represent more than just a building with books; they function as a visual symbol of this information age. As such, the artist looks past the benefits of unfettered information access. He chooses to focus on the social problem of information overload and its alienating effects on the individual. There is a finite amount of books, journals, websites, etc. that a person can consume in their lifetime compared to the endless number produced. At times this can overtax a person’s intellect leaving them feeling alienated. Art critic Diane Thodos has written, “Like the character of K in Franz Kafka’s novel ‘The Trial’ [Gista’s] figures are imprisoned by the meaningless information that engulfs them.”1 Gista often includes figures in his libraries that are portrayed in an anonymous fashion with their backs to the viewer. They are rendered insignificant by the monumental scale of the bookshelves that are lined with a myriad of colorful volumes. His painting The Great Sleep is a dark and foreboding maze of bookshelves where silhouetted figures lurk. The title recalls Goya’s etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Gista’s piece addresses the stupefying effect of too much information.

Gista begins his paintings by collaging paper elements such as book pages, magazine images and even junk mail onto the canvas. He then proceeds to paint over the collage, but retains some areas of semi-transparent paint where the printed images strike through. Much of the surface is rendered in thick, acrylic impastos that obliterate the collage. The paintings function on two levels. There is the representation of the library interior, but also there is the stuff of libraries, the printed matter, playing hide-and-seek with the viewer.

The exhibition’s title, Fictions, implies both a literary genre and something that is not true. It is the latter that is perhaps the thematic undercurrent of the show. The unlimited access to information was supposed to make our lives easier. Gista raises the question, “has it made life easier or is that concept merely ‘fiction’?” Steven Jones

ART GALLERY CURATOR

1

8

Diane Thodos, Stranger in a strange land, 2006, Thomas Masters Gallery, exhibition catalog essay 1

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D AVID G ISTA

D AVID G ISTA

B ORN : Paris, France

BIOGRAPHY

Though a resident of Chicago for the past eight years, David Gista was born and raised in Paris, France. At 44, Gista has established his career in both the United States and Europe. Having studied art at the “Ecole des Beaux Arts” in Paris, Gista combines his classical fine arts training with his conception of modernity, and his work reveals a running commentary on contemporary life. How this Parisian painter came to Chicago is an interesting account. Gista graduated in 1990 with the equivalent of a Master of Fine Art degree. Discovered in 1995, by the internationally recognized Darthea Speyer Gallery in Paris, who also represented the late Chicago artists Leon Golub and Ed Paschke, Gista's professional career was established. During that same period of time he received one of the most important awards for emerging painters, the “prix de Vitry,” (which means “prize of Vitry,” a city in France).

During his initial visit to Chicago in 1996, he met Gary Marks—and in 1997 he held his first one-person show in the United States at the Gary Marks Gallery. Through his Darthea Speyer Gallery connection, Gista was invited by Ed Paschke to serve as a guest speaker/lecturer at Northwestern University. He was also chosen as one of twelve featured artists for Chicago Artist's Month. In 2001, Gista was selected by the Hotel Sofitel to create 274 large-sized digital paintings for their newest hotel built in downtown Chicago. This year long project combined his drawing, painting, and photographic abilities with the use of digital technology. Gista has also been interested in the relationship between cinema and painting. He had a solo exhibit in 2004 at the Galerie Friedland/Rivault located in the Marais District in Paris, France. The show was titled, “Serie Noire”, inspired by film noir and the universe of fictional crime stories. The following year he was part of a group exhibition in the same gallery titled, Silence on reve. It too explored the relationship between film and paintings.

During the summer of 2005, Gista was selected as a part of the Mayor Daley’s effort to beautify the City of Chicago for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Gista designed, with the assistance of area high school students, a 22-foot by 7-foot mural that was painted on the floor of Terminal 2 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Last year Gista began working with a blow torch as a means of mark making on paper. This dangerous process is at the border of drawing and painting, but has a very strong conceptual resonance. Gista says that “I started at a moment of my life where I was ‘burnt out’ and I used that feeling literally in my work.” Ever prolific, Gista has a one-person show at the Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago that runs concurrently with this one. He was also recently represented at The SLICK art fair in Paris, France. Though Chicago and Paris are geographically far apart, Gista’s work brings them a little closer together. Adapted from the Biography page on David Gista’s website: http://www.davidgistart.com/bio.html 2

R ESIDES : Chicago, IL

REPRESENTATATION Thomas Masters Gallery & ThinkArt in Chicago, “Enviedart galleries” in France, and the Cynthia Corbett Gallery in London WEBSITE: www.davidgistart.com

E DUCATION Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, France: equivalent of a Master of Fine Art degree 2008 2007 2006 2004 2000 1997

2007 2005 2004 2002 2001 2004 2002

S ELECTED S OLO E XHIBITIONS

Intrigues, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL Flame and flamenco, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL Chance meeting, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL

Stranger in a strange land, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL Galerie Friedland/Rivault, Paris, France Gallery Mornea, Evanston, IL Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France

Galerie New World, Dusseldorf, Germany Gary Marks Gallery, Chicago, IL

S ELECTED G ROUP E XHIBITIONS

7even, ThinkArt, Chicago, IL LIMN Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Silence on reve, Galerie Friedland/Rivault, Paris, France Viridian Gallery, New York, NY The Blue Period, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL Aparte, Galerie Nomade, Paris, France

Confrontations, Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France M EDIA E XPOSURE

“Art Beat”, Chicago Tonight, WTTW Channel 11, Chicago, IL OUI FM, Paris, France; radio interview WBEZ, “8:48”, radio interview with Victoria Lautman 7

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Illuminati, 2008, 36” x 48”, Mixed media


6

3

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Club Dumas, 2007, 60” x 40”, Mixed media 4

5

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Club Dumas, 2007, 60” x 40”, Mixed media 4

5

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Illuminati, 2008, 36” x 48”, Mixed media


6

3

gista:Gista

10/29/08

11:10 AM

Page 4

D AVID G ISTA

D AVID G ISTA

B ORN : Paris, France

BIOGRAPHY

Though a resident of Chicago for the past eight years, David Gista was born and raised in Paris, France. At 44, Gista has established his career in both the United States and Europe. Having studied art at the “Ecole des Beaux Arts” in Paris, Gista combines his classical fine arts training with his conception of modernity, and his work reveals a running commentary on contemporary life. How this Parisian painter came to Chicago is an interesting account. Gista graduated in 1990 with the equivalent of a Master of Fine Art degree. Discovered in 1995, by the internationally recognized Darthea Speyer Gallery in Paris, who also represented the late Chicago artists Leon Golub and Ed Paschke, Gista's professional career was established. During that same period of time he received one of the most important awards for emerging painters, the “prix de Vitry,” (which means “prize of Vitry,” a city in France).

During his initial visit to Chicago in 1996, he met Gary Marks—and in 1997 he held his first one-person show in the United States at the Gary Marks Gallery. Through his Darthea Speyer Gallery connection, Gista was invited by Ed Paschke to serve as a guest speaker/lecturer at Northwestern University. He was also chosen as one of twelve featured artists for Chicago Artist's Month. In 2001, Gista was selected by the Hotel Sofitel to create 274 large-sized digital paintings for their newest hotel built in downtown Chicago. This year long project combined his drawing, painting, and photographic abilities with the use of digital technology. Gista has also been interested in the relationship between cinema and painting. He had a solo exhibit in 2004 at the Galerie Friedland/Rivault located in the Marais District in Paris, France. The show was titled, “Serie Noire”, inspired by film noir and the universe of fictional crime stories. The following year he was part of a group exhibition in the same gallery titled, Silence on reve. It too explored the relationship between film and paintings.

During the summer of 2005, Gista was selected as a part of the Mayor Daley’s effort to beautify the City of Chicago for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Gista designed, with the assistance of area high school students, a 22-foot by 7-foot mural that was painted on the floor of Terminal 2 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Last year Gista began working with a blow torch as a means of mark making on paper. This dangerous process is at the border of drawing and painting, but has a very strong conceptual resonance. Gista says that “I started at a moment of my life where I was ‘burnt out’ and I used that feeling literally in my work.” Ever prolific, Gista has a one-person show at the Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago that runs concurrently with this one. He was also recently represented at The SLICK art fair in Paris, France. Though Chicago and Paris are geographically far apart, Gista’s work brings them a little closer together. Adapted from the Biography page on David Gista’s website: http://www.davidgistart.com/bio.html 2

R ESIDES : Chicago, IL

REPRESENTATATION Thomas Masters Gallery & ThinkArt in Chicago, “Enviedart galleries” in France, and the Cynthia Corbett Gallery in London WEBSITE: www.davidgistart.com

E DUCATION Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, France: equivalent of a Master of Fine Art degree 2008 2007 2006 2004 2000 1997

2007 2005 2004 2002 2001 2004 2002

S ELECTED S OLO E XHIBITIONS

Intrigues, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL Flame and flamenco, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL Chance meeting, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL

Stranger in a strange land, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL Galerie Friedland/Rivault, Paris, France Gallery Mornea, Evanston, IL Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France

Galerie New World, Dusseldorf, Germany Gary Marks Gallery, Chicago, IL

S ELECTED G ROUP E XHIBITIONS

7even, ThinkArt, Chicago, IL LIMN Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Silence on reve, Galerie Friedland/Rivault, Paris, France Viridian Gallery, New York, NY The Blue Period, Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL Aparte, Galerie Nomade, Paris, France

Confrontations, Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France M EDIA E XPOSURE

“Art Beat”, Chicago Tonight, WTTW Channel 11, Chicago, IL OUI FM, Paris, France; radio interview WBEZ, “8:48”, radio interview with Victoria Lautman 7

gista:Gista

10/29/08

11:10 AM

Page 3

D AVID G ISTA : F ICTIONS


EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

1


3


2 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Club Dumas, 2007, 60” x 40”, Mixed media Illuminati, 2008, 36” x 48”, Mixed media Lumieres, 2008, 30” x 40”, Mixed media

Desert Island, 2008, 51” x 35”, Mixed media

Dantz Mit Mir, 2008, 40” x 60”, Acrylic & burnt paper mache Way Up, 2008, 60” x 40”, Acrylic & burnt paper mache Mini Matrix, 2008, 24” x 30” Mixed media Archipelago, 2008, 40” x 60”, Mixed media

Ladder, 2008, 30” x 22”, Mixed media/paper

Petit Exlibris, 2007, 30” x 22”, Mixed media/paper Night Watch, 2008, 22” x 30”, Mixed media/paper

Petit Rendez-Vous, 2008, 22” x 30”, Mixed media/paper The Ladder, 2008, 40” x 26”, Burnt paper

Library Genie, 2008, 26” x 40”, Burnt paper K, 2008, 22” x 30”, Burnt paper

Numbers, 2008, 22” x 30”, Burnt paper

Ladies Wit, 2008, 47” x 24”, Mixed media

Gentlemen Twist, 2008, 54” x 54”, Mixed media

All works are courtesy of Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL

INTRODUCTION

David Gista’s exhibition Fictions seems to fit like a glove in the College of Lake County’s gallery space. The artist’s paintings and works on paper depict images of library interiors with towering shelves of books. What better venue to exhibit these paintings than in a gallery that resides within a library? There is, however, more to these works than at first meets the eye.

We live in an information age of vast electronic and printed media. Gista’s libraries represent more than just a building with books; they function as a visual symbol of this information age. As such, the artist looks past the benefits of unfettered information access. He chooses to focus on the social problem of information overload and its alienating effects on the individual. There is a finite amount of books, journals, websites, etc. that a person can consume in their lifetime compared to the endless number produced. At times this can overtax a person’s intellect leaving them feeling alienated. Art critic Diane Thodos has written, “Like the character of K in Franz Kafka’s novel ‘The Trial’ [Gista’s] figures are imprisoned by the meaningless information that engulfs them.”1 Gista often includes figures in his libraries that are portrayed in an anonymous fashion with their backs to the viewer. They are rendered insignificant by the monumental scale of the bookshelves that are lined with a myriad of colorful volumes. His painting The Great Sleep is a dark and foreboding maze of bookshelves where silhouetted figures lurk. The title recalls Goya’s etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Gista’s piece addresses the stupefying effect of too much information.

Gista begins his paintings by collaging paper elements such as book pages, magazine images and even junk mail onto the canvas. He then proceeds to paint over the collage, but retains some areas of semi-transparent paint where the printed images strike through. Much of the surface is rendered in thick, acrylic impastos that obliterate the collage. The paintings function on two levels. There is the representation of the library interior, but also there is the stuff of libraries, the printed matter, playing hide-and-seek with the viewer.

The exhibition’s title, Fictions, implies both a literary genre and something that is not true. It is the latter that is perhaps the thematic undercurrent of the show. The unlimited access to information was supposed to make our lives easier. Gista raises the question, “has it made life easier or is that concept merely ‘fiction’?” Steven Jones

ART GALLERY CURATOR

1

8

Diane Thodos, Stranger in a strange land, 2006, Thomas Masters Gallery, exhibition catalog essay 1

gista:Gista

10/29/08

11:10 AM

Page 1


NOVEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 15, 2008

D AVID G ISTA

F ICTIONS

G ALLERY HOURS : Mon-Thu 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Fri & Sat 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Sun 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Closed: Nov 26 - 30 GALLERY INFORMATION: 847-543-2240

W EB

E MAIL : [email protected] http://gallery.clcillinois.edu/

PAGE :

COVER ART: David Gista, Desert Island, 2008, 51” x 35”, Mixed media

College of Lake County The Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art is a project of the College of Lake County Foundation. This program is partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

R OBERT T. W RIGHT C OMMUNITY G ALLERY C OLLEGE

OF

L AKE C OUNTY

OF

A RT