“Jamming things together over time, I
guess, helped me invent my own bridges.”
–Jeffrey Gibson
Jeffrey Gibson strives to combine his
own heritage with his modern influences. He uses colorful linear designs and
portrays them on different mediums. These mediums originate from his tribal
ancestry. Native American inspiration meets contemporary design. His
minimalistic composition layers separately upon his mediums. The paint may lay
on stretched animal hides, like the tribal djembe, but does not enforce the
natural element of the hide. Gibson attempts to bridge the gap between
contemporary art and native elements, but his art is just that. Layering one
idea on top of another. Combining the eras that still stand separate from each
other. Gibson embraces commonly used tribal elements and contorts or controls them to meet his idea of modern design.
One of
Jeffrey’s pieces allows the natural flow of the element to hang with the
geometric shapes painted on it. A felt-like blanket is erected vertically to
resemble the triangular patterns that are painted on it. Contrasting the forced
forms of the hide canvases. The erected blanket allowed me to see that Gibson’s
pieces do incorporate each other but do not merge.
The colored pallet is just placed upon the canvas. When Jeffrey is striving
to connect a contemporary idea or design to a functional tool, he does so only
in that he places them together. He does not jeopardize one design for the
other. This exhibition “bridges” the gap for Gibson, while simultaneously allowing the audience to see the direct distinction between the two ideas.
You
can see Gibson’s contemporary influence commonly used in graphic design,
typography backgrounds, architecture, etc. The merge between
minimalistic-geometric lines and nature is a recent occurrence seen in digital design.
The idea where linear meets nature can directly connect to technology integrating
with art. Graphic designers are using geometric shapes and layering them on to
natural photography (as seen below).Finding geometric design, in natural movement. Jeffrey Gibson’s physical mediums are very
similar to graphic designs like these. Layering translucent shapes on top of
natural elements.
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