Gabrielle Egnater
Sculpture-Dimensional Studies
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Artist Statement
My work focuses on American Ashkenazi and Jewish history. Influenced by my reformed Jewish community in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, I have explored how Jewishness has assimilated into Americanness. I am drawn to these moments of assimilation in the way I can capture them, create them, or manipulate them through world building. Engaging in a type or time travel or time removal.
In previous works, I have grabbed at cultural touch points such as the delicatessen, the holiday ritual, and the holocaust memorial. These points allow me to build a discussion while remaining within the laws of aniconism stated in the second commandment. I am building a discussion about religion and culture without directly representing the figures of the religion. This places my work in a position to respectfully question and play with humor, irony, and violence; three things that are synonymous with the American Ashkenazi experience.
In Blue Milk and Other Short Stories, my work engages in a type of world building or judeo-futurism. Blue Milk is an invented product in an invented world; influenced by the mythology of Techelet or “biblical blue”, the moral fable of the golden calf, the 1971 movie adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof, and my own fraught relationship with healthcare. The exhibition explores Blue Milk through costumes, tools, and containers captured through photography, fibers, metal fabrication, and metal casting.
Click to view Three garments laid on chairs with three photos. Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Exhibition documentation featuring Milk Delivery Suit, Ghillie Suit, and Medical Suit
Click to view A figure wearing a brown garment filled with milk bottles. Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Milk Delivery // suit, milk bottles// 4’ x 4’ x 4’
Click to view A figure wearing a blue garment covered in blue fringe. Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Ghillie Suit // modified snow ghillie suit, western fringe, Jewish ritual fringe // 4’ x 4’ x 4’
Click to view A close-up photo of blue fringe. Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Ghillie Suit // modified snow ghillie suit, western fringe, Jewish ritual fringe // 4’ x 4’ x 4’
Click to view A figure wearing a white garment and cow mask Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Medical Suit // suit, cast aluminum cow mask, gloves // 4’ x 4’ x 4’
Click to view A figure wearing a cow mask Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Medical Suit // suit, cast aluminum cow mask, gloves // 4’ x 4’ x 4’
Click to view Three sculptures featuring milk cans, a helmet, an udder, and tools Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Exhibition documentation featuring Milk Cans and Helmet, Udder Basin, and Tools
Click to view Two long tools resting on top of a steel frame. Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Tools // cast aluminum hands, cast aluminum torah crown, wood// 4’ x 5’ x 4’
Click to view A close-up of cast aluminum cupping hands. Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Tools // cast aluminum hands, cast aluminum torah crown, wood// 4’ x 5’ x 4’
Click to view A figure wearing a modified helmet. Full-Screen
Gabrielle Egnater // Helmet // PLA Milk Can lids, PLA Bells, modified helmet // 2’ x 2’ x 2’