b. 1965 in Montreal, Canada
Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
Known for paper works composed of layers of densely hand-cut paper, Gabbiani’s works depict charged moments that evoke altered states of consciousness. Inspired by a variety of sources including Gothic literature, architecture, horror and film noir, the gardens of Babylon, the animal kingdom and psychoactive flora and fauna, Gabbiani’s themes of ambiguity and ornamentation, the ominous and fantastic, result in psychic landscapes rich in allegorical imagery.
In 1969 Gabbiani’s family moved to Switzerland and in 1992 she graduated from Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts in Geneva. She studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and received an MFA from UCLA in 1997. She has held numerous solo exhibitions at Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX; Galleria Monica De Cardenas in Milan, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland; Patrick Painter, Los Angeles, CA; and Sara Meltzer Gallery, NY. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Paradise Row, London; Tucson Museum of Art, AZ; MoMA, NY; Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY and Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany. Gabbiani’s work is in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA; Metropolitan and Museum of Modern Art in New York; and in Switzerland is part of the City of Geneva Collection and CentrePasquArt in Biel. She is a recipient of Switzerland’s Placette Award, Providentia Award and Federal Award of Art, and the Uriot Award, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Rollicking technicolor fauvism, intricate cut paper interiors, performance-derived photographs and flirty sculpture mix things up in the current exhibition at Hollywood’s Show Gallery. Les Amoureuses, or The Lovers, takes its title from the female form of the noun, a nod to the casual collective of female artists who have produced the installation. Works by Olivia Fougeirol, Francesca Gabbiani, Marie Peter-Toltz and Joséphine Wister Faure express ideas about love, landscape, the body, and above all, Los Angeles across mediums and styles that differ in form, but share a singular disruptive passion.
FRANCESCA GABBIANI
b. 1965 in Montreal, Canada
Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
EDUCATION
1995-97 Master of Fine Arts, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
1993-94 RAKB, Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1988-91 ESAV, Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Geneva, Switzerland
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2020 Kaléidoscope: Current Views on the 30 Years of Collection, Kunsthaus Centre d’Art
Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland
Francesca Gabbiani, Monica De Cardenas, Zuoz, Switzerland
Baby’s on fire, innen, Zurich, Switzerland
2018 An Uncertain View, with Dimitri Chamblas, Marissa Brown, Manuela Dalle, and
Eddie Ruscha, Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles, CA
Vague Terrains / Urban Fuckups, Gavlak, Los Angeles, CA
Francesca Gabbiani / Iliodora Margellos, Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2012 The Shapes, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
Lookouts, Monica De Cardenas Gallery, Milan, Italy
2010 Dream Baby Dream, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
The Armory Show, with Lora Reynolds Gallery, New York, NY
2009 The Present, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles, CA
2008 Once We Were Trees, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
Be My Mirror, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY
The Flowers of Romance, Monica De Cardenas Gallery, Zuoz, Switzerland
Livres et Editions d’Artistes, Christophe Daviet-Thery, Paris, France
2007 Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
Soul Keepers, Patrick Painter, Los Angeles, CA (exhibition catalogue)
2006 Save Me Up, Gallery Side 2, Tokyo, Japan
Wonderland, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
Daydream, Monica De Cardenas Gallery, Milan, Italy
2005 Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Funny Business, Christophe Daviet-Thery, Paris, France
Rooms of Joy, CentrePasquArt, Kunsthaus Centre d’art, Biel Bienne, Switzerland
2004 Francesca Gabbiani, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
2003 Art Basel, with Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
DreamSpace, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
2001 Francesca Gabbiani, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Francesca Gabbiani, Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
Hammer Projects: Francesca Gabbiani, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
1999 Go to the Rainbow, Gallery I-20, New York, NY
Fancy, Gallery Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
1998 Memories to Chew, Francesca Gabbiani & Dennis Cooper, MAMCO, Museum of
Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland (Placette Award)
Vicious, Gallery I-20, New York, NY (exhibition catalogue)
1996 Souvenirs From LA, Gallery Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
1994 Vidéo-clips de The Dogs, Espace Flon, Lausanne, Switzerland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 NONE OF THE ABOVE: 2004-2020, organized by John M. Armleder, Kanal
Centre Pompidou, Brussels, Belgium
Summer Group Exhibition, with Dean Sameshima and Marnie Weber, Gavlak, Los Angeles, CA
Drive-By-Art, Los Angeles, CA
2019 LA on Fire, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Inaugural Exhibition, Gavlak, Los Angeles, CA
Los Amoureuses, Show Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sète - Los Angeles, Sète, France; Show Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Fight: Abstraction vs. Figuration, Kunstgenerator, Geneva, Switzerland
2018 As You Like It, Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA
How They Ran, Over the Influence, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Concrete Island, Venus Over Manhattan, Los Angeles, CA
2016 GVA ← → JFK, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland
2015 Ten Year Anniversary, Gavlak, Los Angeles, CA
Paperworks, The Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Summer Group Exhibition, Gavlak, Los Angeles, CA
The Afghan Carpet Project, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Don’t Shoot the Painter, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano, Italy
2014 My Self is An Other, The Underground Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Summer Show, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
2013 Seance, Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA
Kiss Me Deadly, Paradise Row, London, United Kingdom
Galerie Gmurzynska, St. Moritz, Switzerland
2012 2nd Mardin Biennale, Mardin, Turkey
2011 The Archaic Revival, La Cienegas Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Houseguest (curator), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Trouble in Paradise: Examining Discord in Nature & Society, Tucson Museum, AZ
Under the Knife, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (exhibition catalogue)
On Paper, Monica De Cardenas Gallery, Zuoz, Switzerland
2006 Vanitas, Marc de Puechredon, Basel, Switzerland
Off the Shelf: New Forms in Contemporary Artists’ Books, Frances Lehman Loeb
Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (exhibition catalogue)
2008 My Generation, Spichernohe, Köln, Germany
Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities, MoMA New York
Wall Rockets: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, The FLAG Art Foundation, NY
2007 Double XX-Rated: Where The Girls Are, Stellan Holm Gallery, New York
5 rencontres d’artistes, &: Aurelie Geslin Christophe Daviet-Thery, Paris, France
Summer Show, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, Texas
Ten Years, Emily Tsingou Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2006 Works on Paper, Patrick Painter Inc, Santa Monica, CA
New Trajectories: Relocations: Recent painting, drawing and multi-media work from
the Ovitz Family Collection, Los Angeles; Cooley Gallery, Reed College, Portland, OR
Off the Shelf: New Forms in Contemporary Artists’ Books, Frances Lehman Loeb Art
Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
2005 Follow Me: A Fantasy, Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Project Ruinart with &:, Paris, France
Paper, Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
The Dogs (curator), Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Emily Tsingou Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Seeing Other People, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
2003 Galerie Tache-Levy, Antwerp, Belgium
Light and Spaced Out, organized by Carlos Cardenas, Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris, France;
Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain, Brest, France
Within, Alongside and Between Spaces, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany
Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Painting On The Move, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Play It As It Lays: 17 Artists From Los Angeles, London Institute Gallery, Millbank, London, UK
Cut; Francesca Gabbiani, Simon Periton, Eva Rothschild, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, CA
2001 New Prints 2001/Summer, International Print Center, NY
By Hand: Pattern, Precision, & Repetition in Contemporary Drawing, University Art Museum,
California State University, Long Beach, CA
Record Collection, Forde, Geneva Switzerland
2000 Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
1999 Spellbound, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy
Hair styling, Toasting Agency Project, Paris, France
The Temptations, curated by Dennis Cooper, Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1998 Dog days are over (Curated by Nicholas Tremblay), Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France
Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer, (Curated by Bice Curiger), Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
1997 Malibu Sex Party, Purple Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
504, Curated by John Armleder, Center for Art, Media & Design, Braunschweig, Germany
1996 Confrontations, Museum of Art, Nyon, Switzerland
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland
Young Art, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland (Providentia Award)
CE Collection, Museum Bonnefeld, Maastricht, The Netherlands
1995 Lost Property, Great Western Studios, London, United Kingdom; W139, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands; Kunsthalle Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland
1993 Peinture, Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
PERFORMANCES
2019 Sète – Los Angeles, with Manuella Dalle, Kim Gordon, and Eddie Ruscha,
Show Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Vague Terrains / Urban Fuckups, with Dimitri Chamblas and Kim Gordon,
Gavlak, Los Angeles, CA
COLLABORATIONS
1997 Ovaltone, with Gregg Einhorn, Evan Holloway, and Amir Zaki (vinyl record)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
2019 Babys on fire, innen, Zurich
Sète - Los Angeles, Sète - Los Angeles, Sète
2018 Vague Terrains / Urban Fuckups, innen, Zurich
2015 Don’t Shoot the Painter: Dipinti Dalla UBS Art Collection, Skira
2009 Trouble in Paradise: Examining Discord in Nature and Society, Tucson Museum of Art
and Historic Block, Tucson
Under the Knife, Armory Center for the Arts Letterpress Studio, Pasadena
2008 Mythym, by Trinie Dalton, Picturebox, Brooklyn
2007 Soul Keepers, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (solo exhibition catalogue)
2006 Off the Shelf: New Forms in Contemporary Artists’ Books, Frances Lehman Loeb Art
Center, Print Craft, Inc., St. Paul
2005 Rooms of Joy, CentrePasquArt, Biel/Bienne (solo exhibition catalogue)
White Book,
with text by Amy Gerstler, XN éditions, Christophe Daviet-Thery, Paris
2004 Dogs, edited by Casey McKinney, Los Angeles (curated exhibition catalogue)
2003 Faster, Jim, by Raymond Pettibon, Hamilton Press, Los Angeles
2000 Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro (group exhibition catalogue)
1998 Memories to Chew, Francesca Gabbiani & Dennis Cooper, MAMCO, Museum of Modern
and Contemporary Art, M+H, Geneva (two-person exhibition catalogue)
Vicious, Gallery I-20, New York (solo exhibition catalogue)
CH Creatio Helvetica, Benteli, Salenstein
1997 504, Curated by John Armleder, Center for Art, Media & Design, 404, Braunschweig
Auguste, chien d'aveugle, Foundation Moet et Chandon Suisse pour l’Art, Geneva
1995 Freistragerinnen und Preistrager des Eidgenossischen Wettbewerbs fur Freie Kunst
Laureates et Laureats du Concours Federal Des Beaux-Arts, Print On, Zurich
1993 Peinture, Art & Public, Geneva (exhibition catalogue)
AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS
1998 Placette Award, Geneva, Switzerland
1996 Providentia Award, Switzerland
1995 Federal Award of Art, Switzerland
1994 Uriot Award, RAKB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Federal Award of Art, Switzerland
1993 Federal Award of Art, Switzerland
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
CentrePasquArt, Biel, Switzerland
City of Geneva, Switzerland
Hammer Museum
Hood Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Microsoft Art Collection
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
National Collection, Switzerland
OCE Collection, The Netherlands
UBS Art Collection
Yale University Art Gallery
