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With comic-book style compositions and caricatures, Gibson offers history painting to dystopic American myths
Miami-born, Philadelphia-based artist Mark Thomas Gibson (born 1980) explores contemporary culture through painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, revisiting pivotal moments in American history while implicating viewers as potential participants in the unfolding narrative. Storytelling is thus a pivotal aspect of his graphic, eye-catching works, inspired as much by the satirical prints of Honoré Daumier as by the history paintings of Jacob Lawrence and the pulp novels and comic books of McCarthyist America. As Gibson explains, "I am constantly reminded in every news cycle that we are entwined in a history of unfinished stories and plot points." Employing caricature, pop culture, horror and a dash of illusion, Gibson blends up two centuries of American history, from Manifest Destiny to the Biden era, serving it back to us with a raucous, caustic flair.
Dan Nadel is the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art. His previous books include, It’s Life as I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940–1980; Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence, 1945–1976; and Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries, 1900–1969. Nadel has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums internationally. He is the founder of PictureBox, a publishing and packaging company that produced over one hundred books, objects, and zines from 2000 to 2014, including the Grammy Award–winning design for Wilco’s 2004 album A Ghost Is Born. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.
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