Jeffery Gibson

2019 Editions: This series of five prints by Jeffrey Gibson feature vivid, screen-printed letters in a typographic treatment developed by the artist collaged on to a printed background, each print in its own artist’s selected color frame. Gibson adapted lyrics from iconic dance and pop songs he heard going to night clubs in Korea, Germany, London in the 80s and 90s, synthesizing expressions of queer and pop culture with the cultural traditions and motifs of his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage. Through the bright, bold declarations made in his prints, Gibson emphasizes the strength and vulnerability found within these communities, and the revolutionary act of expressing joy within a challenging larger culture. These prints are published by Sikkema Jenkins & Co., and printed by the Lower East Side Printshop at an edition of 30 each.

Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, Colorado Springs, CO; lives and works in New York) grew up in major urban centers in the United States, Germany, and England. He is a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and half-Cherokee. A mid-career multidisciplinary artist, Gibson’s produces a diverse range of sculptures, paintings, and prints, often incorporating themes and motifs from his Native American heritage. Recognizing the parallels between Indigenous aesthetics and geometric abstraction, Gibson merges these two visual languages, drawing attention to artistic histories and practices formerly excluded from the Modernist canon.

Gibson earned his Master of Arts in painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1998 and his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995. His mid-career survey exhibition Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer was organized by the Denver Museum of Art where it premiered in 2018. The show traveled to the Mississippi Museum of Art, the Seattle Museum of Art, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. His work is included in the permanent collections include Denver Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian; National Gallery of Canada; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; among many more. He is the recipient of numerous awards, notably a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship. He lives and works in the Mid-Hudson Valley in New York.