An Interview With Gabrielle Stone
Gabrielle Marie Stone is a Chicago-based abstract painter who creates works inspired by Post-Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. Her paintings explore the interplay of figures, objects, and masses, inviting viewers into a three-dimensional space before challenging their perceptions.
Can you tell us a little bit about you?
I am a contemporary painter based in Chicago. My work explores the nature of place using color, form, and materiality to depict abstract environments. I’m from New Jersey, hold a Bachelor of Arts in studio art and creative writing from Carleton College, and work from a studio located in the Fine Arts Building on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue.
What does your current process look like and have you been working on any new themes in your recent work?
I am moving from the explicit geometry of my early works, but am also trying to keep myself from continuing the “full fakutra” (as I call it) approach of my later pieces. My paintings tend to either embody structure or embrace the dissolution of it, but my practice as of late has been devoted to finding a middle ground between the two — something that is able to communicate the physical nature of both the world and the canvas.
What role does chance play in your practice?
Quite a bit. My paintings are a pretty equal marriage of chance and intention. As much as I love to direct the paint and choose the colors, so much of the work is about letting the pigments interact, encouraging the water to go where it wants… As it develops, the painting becomes — I nurture the piece but much of it grows on its own.
What does 'abstraction' mean to you?
Abstraction to me means non-objective. Concentrated. It’s reality filtered through a kaleidoscope.
Is there one piece or project you are especially proud of?
The pieces that I almost give up on but don’t I’m incredibly proud of. “plants i never watered” comes to mind here: I worked this canvas for months and months and could not figure out its resolution. I even took a pair of scissors to the canvas one day when I was frustrated and started aggressively scraping trying to break through the fabric. Ultimately, it’s these pieces that I think come to represent the purest form of my practice.
What do you enjoy most about creating art?
I love how there are no rules. Sometimes, I get in my own head and reprimand myself if I accidentally paint over a mark I liked, or make the slightly wrong tone of green. Then I remember that whatever constraints I had set for myself are completely arbitrary, and it doesn’t actually matter. This is where the celebration of chance comes in.
When did you first know that you wanted to become an artist?
I would say there wasn’t a single knowing — there was a knowing, and then another knowing, and then another knowing. I think most artists know from a young age it’s what they want to do, but they have to bury that aspiration over and over again as the world’s practicalities begin to rear their heads.
Your biggest artistic inspiration?
The interaction of the built and natural environment is a major inspiration for my work, but I also get a lot of color ideas from movies.
What is your favourite book or film and why?
Slightly controversial and not in any way related to my art, but I am really into mob movies — Casino right now is probably my favorite.
Are you working on any projects you are particularly excited about?
I’m working on a massive corporate commission right now, and as difficult as it’s been, it’s so exciting being given specific parameters and having to work within those confines. For example, the client has requested paintings with cool and calming colors, but my default is to paint with lots of reds and browns. As strange as it feels to not begin a painting with a giant red square, it’s uncomfortable, which I think is exciting.
Gabrielle Stone - Instagram