On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions
THROUGH THE LENS of self-portraiture and symbolic domestic spaces, Los Angeles-based Genevieve Gaignard explores American constructs of identity, beauty, blackness, and whiteness. She considers racial logic and racial formation. Her latest exhibition, “I’m Sorry I Never Told You That You’re Beautiful,” features mixed-media works on panel, photographic portraits, sculpture, furniture installations, and a work composed of 59 found hand mirrors. Gaignard calls a series of six self portraits “Ladybirds.” Lady Bird Johnson was the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson who signed landmark civil rights (1964), voting rights (1965), and fair housing (1968) legislation. Other works on view invoke prominent touchstones of African American culture. Images from Ebony and Jet magazines (Life, too) appear in mixed media collages with vintage wallpaper and are also used to decorate domestic installations. In addition, a tiny oval-framed portrait of a young boy holding a rose to his nose shares its title with Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved.” Gaignard joined Vielmetter Los Angeles in December 2018. The exhibition is her first with the gallery. CT
“Genevieve Gaignard: I’m Sorry I Never Told You That You’re Beautiful” is on view at Vielmetter Los Angeles, June 29-Aug. 17, 2019
FIND MORE about the exhibition
GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, “Beloved,” 2019 (mixed media on panel, 48 x 36 x 2.5 inches / 121.92 x 91.44 x 6.35 cm). | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Installation view of “Genevieve Gaignard: I’m Sorry I Never Told You That You’re Beautiful,” Vielmetter Los Angeles (June 29-Aug. 17, 2019). | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy Vielmetter Los Angeles
GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, “Ladybirds (I’m a Canary),” 2019 (print size: 30 x 22.5 inches / 76.2 x 57.15 cm; framed: 30.5 x 23.25 x 1.5 inches / 77.47 x 59.05 x 3.81 cm), Edition 1 of 3, 2 AP | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, “Don’t Be A Paleface,” 2019 (mixed media on panel, 66 x 48 x 4 inches / 167.64 x 121.92 x 10.16 cm). | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Installation view of “Genevieve Gaignard: I’m Sorry I Never Told You That You’re Beautiful,” Vielmetter Los Angeles (June 29-Aug. 17, 2019). Shown, “The Great Escape (Migration),” 2019. | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy Vielmetter Los Angeles
GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, “Ladybirds (I’m a Robin),” 2019 (print size: 30 x 22.25 inches / 76.2 x 56.51 cm; framed: 30.5 x 23.25 x 1.5 inches / 77.47 x 59.05 x 3.81 cm), Edition 1 of 3, 2 AP | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, “A Refreshing Taste of Reality,” 2019 (mixed media on panel
40 x 30 x 3 inches / 101.6 x 76.2 x 7.62 cm). | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, “People Make the World Go Around,” 2019 (59 found mirrors, 87 x 73 inches / 220.98 x 185.42 cm). | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Installation view of “Genevieve Gaignard: I’m Sorry I Never Told You That You’re Beautiful,” Vielmetter Los Angeles (June 29-Aug. 17, 2019). | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy Vielmetter Los Angeles
TOP IMAGE: GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, “Ladybirds,” 2019. | Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
FIND MORE about Genevieve Gaignard on her webiste
FIND MORE about Lyndon B. Johnson and civil rights here and here
