About
Gabriela Hirt is a second career mixed media artist who investigates concepts of connection and separation through abstract human figures in relationship.
Dark drama and subliminal tension often reverberate in Gabriela’s paintings and sculptures. Raised in post-war Germany in the wake of the Holocaust, her work is informed by family trauma as well as by the collective guilt she inherited. Juxtaposing themes of isolation and belonging is the artist’s attempt to communicate the paradoxes she perceives in herself and in society.
More specifically, Gabriela is aiming to understand the legacy of colonialism in her adopted home in Canada by looking closely at the segregating concepts of hierarchy and superiority subconsciously living in herself and in other white bodies.
Gabriela uses contrast, simplified forms and bold energetic marks to articulate inner emotional states as well as to invite questions of social justice. She likes to work large.
Rooted in her original career as a writer, Gabriela depicts whole narratives in which her stylized people interact. Faces are deliberately treated ambiguously. The focus is on the language of the body which the artist deems not only more subtle, but also more genuine, particularly when it comes to social interactions.
Gabriela’s desire to push the boundaries of awareness — her own and that of viewers — sparks a process of radical experimentation. Works start with stream-of-consciousness writing followed by several layers of paint applied in large gestural movement to access somatic wisdom. Out of the chaos top layers are carefully composed, reflecting her fascination with the intersection between analytical inquiry and the intuitive.
"I strive for my work to be emotionally stirring,
at times unsettling
and open to interpretation by the viewer.
It is important to me
to express myself authentically
while not shying away from difficult conversations."
EXHIBITIONS
2024
Artist in Residency, SomoS Arts, Berlin, Jan 3 to March 31
2023
Solo Exhibition, Dance On, online with Artwrk.ca, May 26 to June 9
Solo Exhibition, Storied Bodies, Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons, BC, Jan 12 to Feb 5
13th International Annual Juried Exhibition Liberty & Sovereignty, Gallery 110, Seattle, USA, Feb 2-25 (Juror, Jamie Isaac, Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria)
Federation of Canadian Artists Juried Summer Exhibition Expressions, Fortune Gallery, Victoria
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Paint-In, July 15
2022
Solo Exhibition, Storied Bodies, Gage Gallery, September 13 to October 2
Immigration, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, artist fee received, August 4 to October 9 (Juror, George Harris, Curator & Artistic Director, Two Rivers Gallery)
Inside Out, Art@ Bentall Gallery, Bentall Centre, Vancouver
Sooke Fine Arts Show, Sooke, BC
2021
Refuge, Group Exhibition, Gage Gallery, Victoria
Sooke Fine Arts Show, Sooke, BC
Summer Small Works, Massey Sales Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Memorial. Monument. Movement. Artagainstracism.org, NJ
Somewhere in Time, Federation of Canadian Artists, Victoria
Solo Exhibition, The Indelible Mark, Gage Gallery, Victoria
Abstracted, Federationgallery, Vancouver
Dreamscape, Gage Gallery, Victoria
2020
Winter Small Works, Massey Sales Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Crisis, Federationgallery, Vancouver
Looking in-Looking Out, Federation of Canadian Artists, Victoria
8 min & 46 sec, solo window-installation, Gage Gallery, Victoria
Challenge Crisis with Creativity, Gage Gallery, Victoria
Out of the Silence, Gage Gallery, Victoria
Summer Small Works online, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Inside Out, 3-artists exhibition, Gage Gallery, Victoria
Summer Show & Sale, Victoria Arts Council, Victoria
Social Distancing online, Federation of Canadian Artists, Vancouver
CLWAC 123rd Exhibition of Women's Art, The National Arts Club, NYC
Abstracted, Federationgallery, Vancouver
2019
Solstice Dreams - The Poetry of Winter, Gage Gallery, Victoria
Winter Small Works, Massey Sales Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
All Planet Earth Art Exhibition, Contemporary Art Gallery, Online
The Oak Bay Studio Tour, Victoria
Sidney Fine Arts Show, Sidney, BC
Sooke Fine Arts Show, Sooke, BC
TD Gallery Paint-In, Art Gallery of Greater Greater Victoria
2018
Sidney Fine Arts Show, Sidney, BC
COMMUNITY ART PROJECTS/ORGANIZER & CURATOR
2022 - The Postcard Climate Project & Show, international participation, show in Victoria
2020 - Challenge Crisis with Creativity, project & show, Victoria
Education
MA Political Science, LMU University, Munich
