Date and country of birth

1965, CA

About the artist

Born 1965 Montreal, Francesca Gabbiani lives and works in Los Angeles. Graduated from MA Fine Arts from UCLA (1997); Rijkskademie van Beeldende Kunsten (RAKB), Amsterdam; and Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts (ESAV), Geneva.

Gabbiani’s work attempts to depict the possibility of life in capitalistic ruins, as portrayed in anthropologist Anna Tsing’s book, The Mushroom at the End of the World. She brings Tsing’s optimism into her work, while also drawing from the apocalyptic descriptions of Los Angeles in Octavia Butler’s, Parable of the Sower. She joins these literary influences with her own photographic documentation of damaged environments to fabricate science fiction-like landscapes. To assemble her collages, she uses techniques such as cut paper, airbrush and mixed media washes. She is currently also utilizing shadow puppets and paper animations for her upcoming short film, Sea of Fire.

Selected solo exhibitions include Francesca Gabbiani, Monica De Cardenas, Zuoz (2020); Babys on fire, Innen, Zurich (2020); An Uncertain View, Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles (2018); Vague Terrains / Urban Fuckups, Gavlak, Los Angeles (2018); The Shapes, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin (2018); Lookouts, Monica De Cardenas, Milan (2012); The Present, Patrick Painter, Los Angeles (2009); Francesca Gabbiani, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (2004); Hammer Projects: Francesca Gabbiani, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2001); and Memories to Chew, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva (1998). Selected group exhibitions include Drawing Down the Moon, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2022); Barbarian Days, Fergus McCaffrey, St. Barth (2021); Nasty Women, Gavlak, Los Angeles (2021); None of the Above, Kanal – Centre Pompidou, Brussels (2020);  Kaléidoscope: Current Views on the 30 Years of Collection, Kunsthaus Centre d’Art Pasquart, Biel (2020); LA on Fire, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); Sète – Los Angeles, Sète, France, Show Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); The Fight: Abstraction vs. Figuration, Kunstgenerator, Geneva (2019); As You Like It, Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles (2018); Concrete Island, Venus Over Manhattan, Los Angeles (2017); and GVA ← → JFK, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva (2016).