UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art
Las Vegas, Nevada
We believe everyone deserves access to art that challenges our understanding of the present and inspires us to create a future that makes space for us all.
MessageGig Depio: Rebuilders
- January 15, 2021 - April 02, 2021
- Exhibition
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- Artwork
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- Artists
Gig Depio
A Requiem for the Outsiders (2014)
Graphite on paper
Bridge and Requiem appeared in A Brief History, the 2014 solo exhibition that revived the artist’s confidence in his work. The self-portraiture of Catch-22 continues into Bridge the Gap, but now the artist is a zebra. He points out that his stripes blend into the rebar. “You can’t tell the difference. Because I have the rebar on me I’m a nonentity, I’m just part of the structure. You have your prejudice stamped right there on your own skin.” He sees this criticism of the self reflected in the artists around him. “The ‘gap’ is the perspective [of Las Vegas artists]. We’re thinking locally but actually we’re all contributing to this global art scene. We’re just not seeing it that way.”
Meanwhile, Requiem echoes motifs that reappear in Breaking Armistice – riot police, stringed bows pointing like spears, and the stiff stance of the boxer. “I picked the ones where they’re not really boxing but they’re posing. That’s what Vegas is. You’re projecting this stance that’s not real.”
(DK Sole, curator)
- Created: 2014