Artist Gabrielle Banks
Gabrielle Banks is a 23 year old Bahamas born artist with a BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design.
What inspired you to begin creating art?
I started making art at a fairly young age, but painting has always been my main passion. When I first came to the US, my high school art professor really opened my eyes to the world of painting. It became an outlet and language to communicate my experiences, emotions, personal narratives. It created a space where I could exist as my authentic, uncensored, self.
“Love Knot”
By Gabrielle Banks (Finalist 2nd Edition)
Oil on Canvas
“All of these paintings are centered around a conversation of sexual violence, and what it means to exist within those spaces. There are moments of being so entangled in dynamic that it almost feels inescapable, and often it is. Those experiences haunt you, and you’re constantly finding ways to work through them.”
What inspires your current work?
COVID has definitely taken a toll on my current creative practice. Finding that healthy balance between making and self-care has, admittingly, been difficult. Especially while maintaining a part-time job. I try to find inspiration in everyday activities, thoughts, even dreams. Gardening has been a way to measure time for me. Growing things has become an everyday constant. It’s inspiring to see how resilient plants can be. I’ve enjoyed measuring these past few months at home through a leaf unfurling, or the lifecycle of a bloom.
“Long Distance”
By Gabrielle Banks
Oil on Canvas
“There’s a conversation of care here, and what it means to constantly extend that care to a point of expending yourself. To give so much that you’re left not knowing how much of yourself has been lost.”
What mediums do you work in and experiment with?
I typically use oil on canvas for all my paintings and they occasionally live on Masonite. The Masonite it great as a surface because it’s so smooth so the paint just kind of glides on. But the work mainly exists on primed canvas. If I want to come back to that smooth texture, I normally apply an oil ground to the surface. Painting is great in that regard, changing your surface can make all the difference.
Are there any particular brands of art supplies you prefer using (if so why)?
I mainly just use what’s affordable, honestly. Blick’s oil paint line does the job, and if I’m looking for something specific, I’ll turn to Gamblin.
“Bird Bath”
By Gabrielle Banks
Oil on Canvas
“This was one of the first times I tried to involve humor within the work and thinking about how humor can be used as a coping mechanism. I’ve always been interested in intimate/private spaces and what it means to share them with another body. There’s something sensual yet disturbing about it.”
Do you have any particular ways that you work through a creative block?
Creative blocks are hard. They’re even hard to identify sometimes. After graduating I felt like I lost complete control, and my practice really suffered. You just have to focus on things that excite you and you’ll make your way back to the work. After a while, trying to finish a painting felt like too much of a challenge, like the work was fighting back, and there’s some sensation of defeat in there too. So, drawing has become a way to work through those moments. There something reassuring about the process of drawing, it feels more private and more personal, when sometimes so much sits on a painting. It’s refreshing to just crumple something up and never see it again, rather than having to revisit a whole surface. When you’re going through those blocks it’s really important to just listen to yourself. What do you need, and what needs to change?
“Morning Lust”
By Gabrielle Banks
Oil on Canvas
“I was thinking about those initial moments when you wake up and the haziness/uncertainty around that. The gaze in the work is meant to translate as an awareness and some level of discomfort.”
Can you give any piece of advice to your fellow artists on what you have learned while you practiced your craft (that school or a book did not teach)?
I think something that I even have to remind myself is that your craft is an extension of yourself. Your surroundings and the people around you are also pouring into your creative process, they’re contributing to your experience. With that, you’ll go through break-ups, low points, and high points throughout your practice. Each struggle or hiccup may feel more difficult than the last, but they’re each challenging you in a different way. I like to think of these struggles, or low moments, as opportunities. You’re discovering a new avenue of yourself to grow, reflect, and expand on – it’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.
To view more of Gabrielle Banks’ work