Laura Gilbert: Money, Men and Mischief

On exhibit from October 24 - November 22

The Grady Alexis Gallery presents Laura Gilbert's recent oil paintings and works on paper in "Money, Men, and Mischief." 

The exhibition features the free "Zero Dollar" print, which has received attention worldwide - by The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and the Associated Press, among many others - as a powerful artwork confronting the current breakdown of the American economy. 

As part of the artwork and in the perfect artistic analogy, Gilbert deflates - to zero - the monetary value of the print by making a huge edition of 10,000. Gilbert's first give-away took place on October 7 across from the New York Stock Exchange, and she is continuing to make the print available as part of the exhibition. "The Zero Dollar" will be free to all comers beginning at the artist's reception on October 24 until all the prints have been distributed. Each print is hand signed and numbered by the artist. 

Gilbert has also created a series of works that feature the zero-dollar bill on various commodities -- including aluminum, copper, palladium, and gold - playing with the concepts of value and worth. 

The exhibit marks the first showing of Gilbert's ongoing series "Who Says You Can't Choose Your Family." On display are more than a dozen of her panel paintings of imaginary portraits of people of all ages who are forced to interact with one another. The dynamics of the relationships are controlled by changing the order in which the paintings are hung. 

Gilbert has long been fascinated by how men confront the world, and she has explored this theme in her art since she started painting six years ago. The half-dozen canvases included here show her both sympathetic and critical. With her light-palette hand, Gilbert creates feelings of the ethereal and otherworldly in this unique body of work. Gilbert asks the viewer to spend time with each piece so as to experience not only how she controls the viewer's perceptions of the work but also how she conveys a sense of depth not easily discernible in the passing glance. 

Gilbert's works have been exhibited in Europe and the U.S., including in the 7th Biennial of women artists curated by MoMA's Connie Butler at the A.I.R. Gallery in Chelsea. She studied art at the University of California, Berkeley, the Art Students League, and the School of Visual Arts. She has a master's degree in art history from Columbia University and is currently artist-in-residence at El Taller. 

Exhibition curated by Jon Coffelt.