First Blush, 48" x 48" Acrylic, mixed media, ink on panel, SOLD
BYE GONE DAYS, a new series by Mark Gabriel, features socialites of the tropical jet-set. Inspired by works he made in the early days of 2020. Gabriel never thought they would acquire an additional layer of meaning due to the global pandemic.
It is a new experience to be living through such dramatic change. In a few short months, we find ourselves living in the present and a by gone age simultaneously. Gone suddenly are the new international jet set. The age where we all could count ourselves part of that elite if we wanted to. Travel was cheap, and destinations ripe for the picking. And again we feel like things will never be the same.
"My interest in the tropical socialite has much to do with half-forgotten memories. I want to visit the place where the patina’d mirror of our own experience, blurs together with discolored family photos, mingles with glamorous magazine spreads and the silver screen, mixes with rat pack crooners like cocktails made in silver shakers. A dissociative fugue of champagne goblets and Frank Sinatra."
Exhibition Details
Mark Gabriel
Bye Gone Days x Tropical Jetset
Nov 19 - Dec 21, 2020
Gallery
120 Heroico Colegio Militar
Todos Santos, Baja California Sur
Mexico
"This piece owes much to my spiritual muse for this entire series, Slim Aarons. A photographer without peer in the realm of capturing the elusive socialite in their natural habitats. Slim said, “I photograph attractive people, doing attractive things in attractive places”. But it’s more than that of course.
And with 2020 hindsight, his subjects feel somehow less exclusive and almost like they, the blue-bloods of yesteryear, could be us. At least for me, that’s a part of the allure. We could be them, they remind me of us. And yet through the prism of our new pandemic challenged lifestyles, it all feels so very far away again."
48" x 84"
Acrylic, Mixed Media, on Prepared Panel Board
SOLD
PoolSide Cocktails
"In times of massive change, like we're living through now, it can feel like our bygone days are already here."
Match Point
Match Point came to me in a dream about a year and a half ago. I saw a man, alone on a tennis court with a huge cactus behind him. He spent almost the entire dream staring at an unseen opponent. I couldn’t quite read his expression. Confounded? Upset? Combative?
The piece I ended up painting included his opponent and a taciturn, unimpressed umpire. I love that the ump is enjoying a glass of some big red while these two figure out if they a) have a winner b) are about to brawl over whether it was “in” or “ out” or c) all of the above or none of the above, and they realize that they are in fact in love with each other.
I’m still trying to figure it out, and I think I will be for some time. My other favourites in the show were born to be free, this one will be hard to let go.
Match Point
48" x 48"
Acrylic, mixed media, ink on wood panel
SOLD
Mid-Flight
48" x 36"
Acrylic, mixed media, ink on wood panel
SOLD
The Tennis Pro
36" x 36"
Acrylic, mixed media, ink on wood panel
Inquire (this piece is currently on display at Pez Gordo Gallery in San Jose del Cabo)
The Sirens
48" x 36"
Acrylic, mixed media, ink on wood panel
SOLD
The Quay Club
48" x 48"
Acrylic, mixed media, ink on wood panel
SOLD
