19 Sep Thinking out loud
Source Credit: Content and images from Wall Street International Magazine by . Read the original article - https://www.meer.com/en/83024-thinking-out-loud
Vielmetter Los Angeles is delighted to announce Thinking out loud, Genevieve Gaignard’s
newest exhibition with the gallery, on view from September 21 to November 9, 2024.
Genevieve Gaignard is haunted. We all are. Hauntings can take on many forms: memories from
childhood; the trauma that manifests from centuries of systemic racism; or the echoes of friends
and lovers, come-and-gone. In what might be Gaignard’s most intimate body of work to date,
Thinking Out Loud overlaps her practice with her most recent lived experience, set against the
backdrop of her newly situated life in New York.
Thinking out loud signifies an evolution in Gaignard’s practice as she excavates concepts of
identity and reflects on the intersections of life’s journey. Her symbol-laden, cryptic work
speaks to larger truths: the building and breaking down of walls, the rupture of domesticity as
wallpaper tears, and the detritus of everyday life that we must all work our way through.
Gaignard explores the veil as armor, representing protection while moving through growth. Her
art transcends the personal, becoming public through the artist’s intent, and challenges us to
consider the significance of our own stories within the larger context of humanity.
Thinking out loud invites viewers to closely consider open-ended questions that haunt the
intricacies of personal relationships. Dreamscapes, depicted in the collages and the exhibit
environment, become fertile ground for exploring the emotional landscapes of love and
self-perception. Gaignard has described her working process as a “lived playlist, a diaristic
processing of my life, a creative vibe set against the backdrop of mix tapes and personal
soundtracks that transcends, romanticizes, and provides an escape from the everyday”.
In Lucid girl, Gaignard casts herself as a ghostly figure, levitating in front of a swath of vintage
wallpaper. The title materialized during the creative process when she found unexpected
visual-sonic synchronicity in the lyrics of Thee sacred souls. Another “song” in this playlist, the
collage Players only love you when they’re playin’, is from Fleetwood Mac’s song dreams. A
young Gaignard wields a wiffleball bat while navigating a sea of wallpapered baseball “players”.
An arched text above her reads “ballbuster,” reclaiming and embracing the misogynistic insult as
a badge of honor. She deconstructs her often methodical working process, revealing layers of
wallpaper that show the disorienting multiplicity of spaces.
In Angel and muse, titled after a song by Radamiz, Gaignard ruminates on the passage of time
and creates a narrative about perception, memory, and desire. The work is a window into the
artist’s interior life represented as a surreal street scene from her newly adopted borough of The
Bronx. Gaignard herself is an observer within the microcosm of activity that surrounds her. An
unexpected, sexy selfie of the artist can be found looking out through a stained glass window,
gazing at a disembodied arm orchestrating a flutter of butterflies.
In Tits for tats, the artist offers a defiantly unadorned self-portrait, leading viewers to wonder
for whom the glistening image was originally intended. She emerges through two torn layers of
wallpaper, conjuring herself into spiritual relief. The tattoos that cover her body denote
signifiers such as the biblical, the occult, and symbols of power. Gaignard’s “third eye” suggests
that enlightenment is possible through self-acceptance and awareness, while three anatomical
hearts mystically orbit her crown.
True to the essence of Gaignard’s signature style, this body of work engages viewers with a
clever and nuanced dialogue that challenges them to see beyond the obvious. Thinking out loud lifts the curtain on the complexities and struggles of everyday life, highlighting the
uncomfortable spaces in between awareness and the mysteries of our existence.
Source Credit: Content and images from Wall Street International Magazine by . Read the original article - https://www.meer.com/en/83024-thinking-out-loud