The Department of Photography and Imaging at New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts is pleased to present new work by alumnus David
Gilbert on view in the Gulf and Western Gallery. David Gilbert is the 2009
fellowship recipient of the Tierney Family Foundation Grant supporting the
development of emerging photographers.
David Gilbert begins his process by making crude sculptures out of
fabric, cardboard, paper, wood, plaster, and paint. He then photographs the
resulting objects. In the photographs, the materials stubbornly remain readable
as what they are, while the statues begin to resemble figures or body parts.
The sculptures appear as human beings before a camera: full of personality and
character but also awkward and self-conscious. The sculptures themselves are
messy, but the process of photographing cleans them up. Blown up huge, the
prints add a certain heroicism to these small, scrappy sculptures, magnifying
not only a sense of pathos but also one of humor.
