Brooke Gibbas
Obscure Relations
Brooke Gibbas is a painter that works with the mixed materiality of oil, acrylic, and collage. The content of their art largely focuses on the human figure, and implements devices of vibrant color and the building up the surface structures of the work to create instances of abstraction and deliberate redirection. This project explores the artist’s relationships with other people and the different types of connections and endings in their life.
Artist/Thesis Statement
The content of my work pulls from the evidence of my relationships with people and how those relationships have changed over time. As a way of addressing it, and not letting it dissolve without marking: the moment has happened. And it’s in the past now, but it is still a part of you.
It is the same in the mentality of constructing a piece. It is a continuous act of becoming, of destroying, of building and melding and recreating.The use of collage channels that mentality.
The surface of the artwork to reflect that “all-at-once”-ness, the visualization of the idea of things existing together; There’s a sense of obstruction there too. This prevalent idea of things’ existence is not in their full capacity.
Abstracting the content through the play materiality for the sake of obstructing elements of the composition from immediate understanding. These decisions pull us to stay in the painting. It takes us longer to understand, so we have to live with the figures for longer, you have to build a relationship with the piece, and reckon with the feelings they leave you after you realize who they are.
I find the shape of the scenes , in the way you walk through a relationship. It’s vague at some points, the only things you’re able to define are the contrasts, the structures of the environment around you. The stable elements of support, and the bright instances of energy.
