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View full screen - View 1 of Lot 494. GABRIELLE BANKS | BIRD BATH.

GABRIELLE BANKS | BIRD BATH

Lot Closed

March 7, 06:27 PM GMT

Estimate

2,000 - 3,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

By Women For Tomorrow's Women: A Benefit Auction For Miss Porter's School


GABRIELLE BANKS

b.1997

BIRD BATH


signed on the reverse 

oil on canvas 

62 by 66 in. (157.5 by 167.7 cm.)

Executed in 2018.

Courtesy of the artist 

Gabrielle Banks is a rising contemporary artist who explores the issues of race, gender, and identity through her works of art. With her experiences as a woman of color, Banks tackles the representation of the Black female form by expressing racial ambiguity. She reinterprets the female form of blackness by replacing it with vibrant, highly-saturated colors - purple, blue, orange, red. She also carries on a conversation of her personal experience of being a woman in her works. Although there has been a rise of female artists of color, Black women still remain misrepresented in the art world. To critique this notion, Banks’s subjects frequently reflect those from the work of white artists; however, modifications are made to highlight the features of a woman of color. In her most recent body of works, Banks delves into her trauma and memory of experiencing sexual assault and abusive relationships. Through this, she acknowledges the therapeutic and emotional power of art. In all of her works, both early and recent, Banks successfully captures the essence of power within the female form through their gaze.


Born in Nassau, Bahamas, in 1997, Banks has grown up with the influence of Bahamian art throughout her lifetime. Directly inspired by this environment, she utilizes her distinct color palette to portray ceremonial traditions, cultural vibrancy, and the beautiful connection between the female form and nature. Banks is a graduate of Miss Porter’s School and she currently attends the Rhode Island School of Design; she recently completed her semester abroad at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, England, and will be graduating in 2019 with a B.F.A. in Painting and a minor in Art History.


During the summer of 2017, Banks had her first solo exhibition, Gabrielle Banks: The Mark of a Woman, at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, confidently claiming the title as one of The Bahamas’ most exciting emerging artists.