The city’s traits have been imprinted on her, leaving a preoccupation with dense layers beneath the surface; an appreciation for the unvarnished and idiosyncratic; an impulse toward preservation, with a simultaneous respect for the corrosive; and, perhaps most of all, a life imbued with commemorative ritual.”
JAN GILBERT STATEMENT
Intentions: an installation of books, prints, objects & ephemera
Based in and deeply influenced by her native New Orleans, Gilbert savors the many aspects of ritual in her artmaking practice. Raised Catholic and under the tutelage of her professional seamstress maternal grandmother, she early launched into what she now calls her “FOUND LIFE.” A review of these practices, which include avid mail art exchanges and archiving, public art installations and interactions, meditations and events focused on memorializing, pilgrimages moving through transitions and healing, are here presented as a means of creating a dialogue via past, present and future modes with viewers and their own practices. Here, a chapter called Intentions is a compilation of individual works combined in a form to echo her scenic inspiration, the St. Roch Cemetery Grotto.
Throughout the run of this exhibition Gilbert actively engages both with these practices and individuals, including her fellow artists and gallerists, in commemorative ritual and objects.
Author, Rachel Carrico writes: “Throughout her career, Gilbert has deepened long-standing collaborations and continually formed new ones with far-flung partners as well as those close to home; however, she claims that New Orleans itself is her primary collaborator. The city’s traits have been imprinted on her, leaving a preoccupation with dense layers beneath the surface; an appreciation for the unvarnished and idiosyncratic; an impulse toward preservation, with a simultaneous respect for the corrosive; and, perhaps most of all, a life imbued with commemorative ritual.” Gilbert continues to work with individuals and utilizing the arts as tools to moving through passages/transitions with objects and rituals and will be adapting this process to revisiting her 40 years of art making throughout the run of this exhibition.