Rescue from the collection of South Carolina Arts Commission

Discovery

Gina Gilmour
Rescue, 1985
oil on canvas; triptych
52 x 52 in
Signature: signed, titled and dated on lower left

Nancy S. Smith, The News & Courier/The Evening Post, on Gina Gilmour
Excerpted from a review, 1985

The “Rescue” paintings are concerned with man’s threatened drowning and imminent rescue. The obvious comparison that leaps to the eye is with William Blake’s transfiguring works. Here are human figures that glow with an unearthly light that suggests saints or a resurrected Christ.

Here are real faces that float as though they are caught in a dream world. Here is the innocence of nature, a simple Eden, or is it paradise? The figures, almost stick-like exude an aura of mysticism.
The painter is dealing with some huge basic themes here – life-death; love-death; death-redemption; fear-faith; nature-savage, nature-healing.

Collections: South Carolina Arts Commission State Art Collection

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The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission is to promote access to the arts and support the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina. We envision a South Carolina where the arts are valued and all people benefit from a variety of creative experiences.

A state agency created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the SCAC works to increase public participation in the arts through grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in artist development, arts industry, arts learning, creative placemaking, and folklife and traditional arts. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the SCAC is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources.

South Carolina Arts Commission

Columbia, South Carolina