Cirrus Gallery & Cirrus Editions Ltd. is pleased to announce a new series of monographs by Daniel Gibson (b. 1977). For the edition, Gibson has created three distinct compositions which are elaborated through the process of monoprinting and hand embellishment. These colorful works further Gibson's exploration of his signature subject matter, the borderlands of the US and Mexico.
Referencing the natural world while speaking to hardships, resiliences, and freedom, Gibson puts forth a cosmology of symbols that speak to this unique region. Born in Yuma, Arizona, and raised along the California-Mexico border, Gibson witnessed the harsh realities of migration at an early age. To understand these journeys, he wields imagination, retooling reality with fantasy by introducing dreamlike visions of the desert landscape. The largely self- taught artist supplies a complex symbolic world to be decoded.
Gibson's surrealistic scenes are populated with lush flora that take on an arresting, vibratory quality. Butterflies, flowers, ocotillos, and desert mountains become stand-ins for the people navigating the desert, visualizing the narratives of migration without drawing on essentialist tropes. For the artist, his works are as much autobiographical as they are collective stories that document moments of struggle and celebration that would otherwise be unrecognized. One recurring motif reflects Gibson’s idea that butterflies could lift the migrants to safety. Daniel Gibson’s paintings are full of color, erupting with flowers. But, just as in the desert, closer inspection reveals a precarious network.
