Installation view of Gabriel Mills: Butterfly March (October 19-November 19, 2022) at Alexander Berggruen, NY. Photo: Dario Lasagni
Gabriel Mills (b. 1992, New Rochelle, NY) creates both thickly layered abstractions and realistic scenes, embracing a self that contains multitudes. In his work, painting becomes a symbolic act through layering and erasure. His abstractions feature textured, topographical surfaces that strike a balance between atmosphere and materiality, evoking both celestial and terrestrial landscapes. His uniquely constructed titles stem from a linguistic game he developed while working as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he rearranged words from museum displays based on their formal properties. This exploration of language parallels his artistic process, as he continuously builds and revises in a gesture of deep reflection. Speaking about the roles of faith, Christianity, and spirituality in his work, Mills stated: “Each mark is a thought, each thought is a mark. Painting is an extension and affirmation of my being.”
Mills received an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT and a BFA in Illustration and Art History from the University of Hartford, Hartford, CT. Recent solo exhibitions include Aunechei, The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Udaya, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA; TIDSOPTIMIST, Micki Meng, San Francisco, CA; and Butterfly March, Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY. His work has been featured in group exhibitions at Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA; Museu Inimá de Paula, Minas Gerais, Brazil; K11 Musea, Hong Kong, CN; New York Historical, NY; Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX; François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA; Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY; Galerie ISA, Mumbai; and Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY. In 2021, he was an artist in residence at MASS MoCA. The artist’s work is held in public collections including: The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; The Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX; New York Historical, NY; Museu Inima De Paula, Minas Gerais, Brazil; and X Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, CH. Mills lives and works in New Haven, CT.
Gabriel Mills in the studio, New Haven, CT, 2023. Photo: Rachel Kwon
TED GAHL, DUSTIN HODGES, GABRIEL MILLS, ANNA TING MÖLLER, SOUMYA NETRABILE, KAIFAN WANG
January 17-February 21, 2024
GABRIEL MILLS: BUTTERFLY MARCH
October 19-November 19, 2022
ELANA BOWSHER, VICENTE MATTE, GABRIEL MILLS
June 2–July 14, 2021
THE ARMORY SHOW 2023
September 7-10, 2023
Gabriel Mills
On the other side of the floor stood Alexander Berggruen’s booth, this year reserved entirely for the artist Gabriel Mills. Berggruen hosted a solo show for Mills last fall, where the best work on display consisted of massive triptychs. The canvases of each triptych in the fall show alternated between thinly painted depictions of airy subjects, such as clouds, and canvases covered in inches of thick impasto. The idea, which is to generate a balance between the lightweight and heavy elements, was interesting then, but Mills has since taken it to another level.
At the Armory, Mills’s Glass and the Ghost Children (2023), a massive diptych, served as the gallery’s centerpiece. It’s electric. In his prior work, Mills conjured interplay by juxtaposing heavy canvases against light ones. Now, that interaction occurs as well within each frame. Weightless currents of oil swirl and stream through their dense counterparts, the former lifting the canvas, the latter bringing it down; an equilibrium is achieved that makes the piece appear to float, suspended in midair. The smaller Ohenguai (2023) and Thira (2023) prove potent too.
Highlighting the diversity during Armory Week, Conrad Woody, a D.C.-based art collector, noted his appreciation for the Norman Lewis show at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery and Gabriel Mills’s solo booth at Alexander Berggruen.
“Painting is most exciting; seeing what comes of it all exciting. That’ll always be my case. An exhibition catalogue of Butterfly March will be coming out soon, via Alexander Berggruen.” — Gabriel Mills
On the occasion of our exhibition Ted Gahl, Dustin Hodges, Gabriel Mills, Anna Ting Möller, Soumya Netrabile, Kaifan Wang (January 17-February 21, 2024), curator and writer Yindi Chen contemplates the universal search to contend with time across the artists’ paintings and sculptures.
On the occasion of Alexander Berggruen’s exhibition Gabriel Mills: Butterfly March (October 19-November 19, 2022), we are delighted to share a new editorial feature by Paul D’Agostino, PhD, an artist, writer, curator, and translator. D’Agostino delves into the range of painterly approaches Mills employs to achieve transcendence through his artistic agency of metaphorical metamorphoses.
On the occasion of our exhibition Elana Bowsher, Vicente Matte, Gabriel Mills (June 2–July 14, 2021), we spoke with the artists about their work.
Gabriel Mills: Butterfly March was published on the occasion of the gallery’s eponymous exhibition, which ran from October 19-November 19, 2022. This catalogue features an essay by artist, writer, curator, and translator Paul D’Agostino; an interview between curator and writer Danni Shen and the artist Gabriel Mills; and a poem by artist, educator, adjunct professor, and arts professional Rebecca Mills.
