BIOGRAPHY
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Through her lens, award-winning artist Gail Mancuso captures the ubiquitous but often overlooked silhouettes and reflections of the urban landscape, as well as the nuance, beauty and strength of the female form. With a discerning eye for color, balance and composition, she utilizes materials uncommon to traditional photography, including paint, torn papers, glass and fabric, along with digital imaging to subtly blur the boundary between photography and painterly impressions.
In her evolving abstract compositions, she uses the art of photography as a medium of experimentation. She often uses fragments of photographs together with other artistic elements to explore and develop ideas. Her diverse process is influenced by an ever-evolving aesthetic, which often leads to reinventing something new from its original context, lending a different perspective to the familiar.
Gail has received international recognition as the recipient of numerous photography awards, including those in France, Russia and Japan. She has shown her work in both solo and group exhibitions in the US and worldwide, including galleries in Chicago, New York, Venice, Paris, and Tokyo. Beyond creating large-scale art for public and corporate installations, her limited-edition works are held in the mayors’ offices in Chicago and San Francisco, in the permanent collection at UIMA museum in Chicago, as well as private collections throughout the US, the UK and Italy.
Gail has been featured in various media, including World Art Dubai, Michigan Avenue, Modern Luxury and Chicago Woman Magazines, Inside Artists, Splash and on television with NBC Universal’s “Chicago Justice.”
STATEMENT
Photography awakens a world of exploration for me. The instantaneous capture within a given moment of time, satisfies a continuous urge to scan my environment to seek out the next shot. I call the city my studio, and with its unlimited possibilities, I am able to gather much of my photographic inventory, as I walk the streets, camera in hand. Additionally, through experimental processes, traditional photography has been a catalyst to express the medium in new and atypical ways.
My process originates in my imagination, where I sit with an idea or concept. Experimenting is key, and I often begin by layering fragments of photographs that I intuitively feel may blend well together. In addition, I utilize a variety of materials, including paint, torn papers, glass and fabric and incorporate digital imaging techniques to further my vision. My mashup of materials is continually evolving and provides an outlet to explore and venture into new territory.
When I’m creating, it's all about the flow, the interplay of color, shadow and light and the emotional response to my emerging composition. Very often, the way a project starts is vastly different from the way it ends. As an artist, it is always my hope that viewers make a personal connection with my work, as I feel that the allure of art is not only visceral, but informed through the eyes of spiritual observation.