Current Exhibition:
INDUSTRIAL
Nicolas Gadbois
September 9 - 30, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 4:30 – 7:00 pm, D101 and Gallery Courtyard
Artist lecture following reception at 7:00 pm in G101
Artist website: www.cementarts.com
The San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery is proud to present Industrial, a new series of paintings by artist Nicolas Gadbois. His subjects are taken from the continuous stream of roadside spectacle visible along highways and freeways. He paints overlooked mundane objects such as billboards, road signs, freeway ramps, cell towers, satellite dishes and power poles. Ultimately, his work addresses the tension between industrial proliferation and the natural environment evident in the landscape.
For Gadbois, “These totems of culture represent the inscription of our society on the natural environment. My work draws on the facticity of the photograph paired with an artistic intervention to produce a painting that is a combination of both. I alter or distort the original image through the process of photocopying and high contrast solarization.” The picture is then built up with layers of material and then excavated through—a sanding process that uncovers the final image.
Gadbois uses industrial materials such as cement and polyurethane to create the paintings. He utilizes power tools in his technique to upbraid the surface of the works. Materials are built up and then excavated with a belt sander. The process of distressing the image speaks to the forces of entropy and the degradation of the natural environment by mass technological culture. The result is a picture that appears frayed, degraded and pixilated. He refers to his process as ‘industrial impressionism.’
The altered paintings are striking and color saturated emitting a light that calls to mind a toxic or nuclear event. “The unnatural colors in my paintings suggest radiation, toxicity, and temperature overload,” he says.
The absence of human figures enhances the unsettling aspect of these works and lends them a sense of apocalypse. The paintings signify a distinct imbalance between technology and the natural world. The blank billboards, the cell towers masquerading as trees, and the endless procession of strip malls are unconscious manifestations of the strange and surreal aspects of contemporary culture. Gadbois’ paintings present the clash between our thirst for technological innovations and our desire for a ‘green’ world. The works cry out about a primitive and uncertain future.
Nicolas Gadbois grew up in the Midwest. In the 1980s he worked as an illustrator for an ad agency in Los Angeles. He began incorporating cement into his work in the 1990s. He has an MFA from Vermont College and has exhibited his work in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland and Santa Fe. In 2008 he received a large public art commission from the Tri Cities Cancer Center in Kennewick Washington. He lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Welcome to the gallery:
Welcome to the San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery.
The gallery exhibits outstanding work by contemporary artists and showcases artwork created by San Diego Mesa College students.
The gallery is located in room D101.
The gallery is open Monday - Thursday
from 12:00 - 4:00 pm.
Closed Weekends. Closed on school holidays.
The gallery is closed during the summer months and winter break.
PARKING IS FREE ON RECEPTION NIGHT, in the faculty lot on the upper level, adjacent and across from the flagpole. During regular gallery hours, purchase a permit for the visitor metered spaces located on the upper level, on the street by the faculty lots and across from the flagpole.
To receive email press releases and gallery announcements,
or to be placed on our mailing list, please email
Alessandra Moctezuma, Gallery Director, at amoctezu@sdccd.edu.
Gallery Mission:
The Mesa College Art Gallery is an educational forum to present the work of professional artists in a range of
media and dealing with diverse issues.
The gallery also showcases outstanding artwork created by students in the Art Department.
It is our mission to enrich and engage our student community through art.
The gallery exhibits are complemented with artist lectures, workshops, and guided tours.
The works on display reflect a variety of topics in order to engage students from other disciplines and departments.
We have created exhibits in collaboration with Chicano Studies, Women Studies and the Black Studies department.
The gallery serves as a laboratory for the Art Department's Museum Studies Program.
The college is the only San Diego institution to offer
an AA and a Certificate in Museum Studies/Gallery Exhibition Skills.
During the academic year four exhibits features art by emerging and established contemporary artists.
A student exhibition is held at the end of every semester. Besides exhibits in our main space, D101,
the Art Gallery program and the Museum Studies classes also curate exhibits in the LRC, 2nd Floor Art Corridor.
Information:
Alessandra Moctezuma,Gallery Director,Museum Studies
Pat Vine, Art Gallery Assistant
Ph.(619) 388-2829
email pvine@sdccd.edu
7250 Mesa College Drive -D104 San Diego, CA 92111-4998
Artist Submissions:
Download Artist Guidelines: Artist Submissions Guidelines
