Finding Figures
Gracie Ellison, Pace Taylor, Nicolo Gentile
Curated by Stockpiler, hosted by Project Object
July 6, 2018, through July 31, 2018
Opening reception: First Friday, July 6, 2018, from 5-8 PM
Project Object is open Wednesday-Saturday from 12-6 PM & Sunday-Monday from 12-5 PM
Finding Figures, hosted by Project Object, whose mission is dedicated to representing the
underrepresented, features artists who are creating works which explore the human form to
discuss specific thoughts and ideas. Gracie paints portraits of surly-faced women which allow her to explore human “imperfection.” Pace’s intimate gendered moments which stem from a blend of anxiety and curiosity, give them the opportunity to examine and to deconstruct how gender identities operate under the gaze of two extremes: desire and disgust. And Nicolo’s exploration of aesthetics, erotics and athletics, allows him to investigate identity and gender construction in relation to the idealized human form through his trans-disciplinary practice.
Gracie Ellison, born and raised in Portland, Oregon, has been illustrating faces her whole life;
painting portraits on canvas for only a few years. Her mother, an artist who favors portraits as well, has surrounded her with art since she was little. With no formal training or education,
Gracie's art has always been instinctual and she has looked to the art that surrounds her to
hone her skills. She seldom has a clear vision for a piece, allowing it to evolve as she paints.
Gracie almost exclusively paints busts of surly faced women; within that realm, she likes to
explore color, pattern, texture, and imperfections. While her creative process is somewhat
unpredictable, Gracie strives for her subjects to be commanding and impactful.
Pace Taylor is an artist working and breathing in Portland, OR, centering their working
queerness. Using illustration, the written word, and uncomfortable human interactions as tools, they build out impressions of identity. Through a special blend of anxiety and curiosity, Pace scrutinizes intimate gendered moments—compromising and/or dissonant— daily moments, and outputs illustrated abstractions of that paused space. Pace is emotionally preoccupied with the busyness of intersecting identities and chooses to examine and to deconstruct how those identities operate under the gaze of two extremes: desire and disgust.
Nicolo Gentile is a Portland-based artist whose work explores identity and aesthetics through the queering of sport, leisure, and fitness. Gentile studied sculpture and spatial studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR and at the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne, VIC. Born in New York to an Italian American family, Gentile excavates the Queer lineage of the Western canonical periods of Hellenism and Classicism, a time in which Aesthetics, Erotics, and Athletics were well incorporated. His trans-disciplinary practice investigates identity and gender construction in relation to the idealized human form and subverts these expectations through a Queer, hybrid method of the creative process.
ABOUT STOCKPILER
Stockpiler’s Finding Figures showcase marks their fourth of six showcases slated for 2018.
Stockpiler; Christopher Dibble, a portrait, and interiors photographer and weaver, and Mariel
Pitti, an artist and former Gallery Store Director of Museum of Contemporary Craft, is a Creative Community Connector. We work closely with early and mid-career artists to curate and produce showcases and events. Sharing our passion for fine art, craft, and design with the public, Stockpiler acts as a roaming gallery, popping up in different locations, curating shows inspired by that particular venue.
More information about the exhibition can be found here.