We were lucky to catch up with Raymond Gabriel recently and have shared our conversation below.

Raymond, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project that I’ve worked on was my recent BFA Thesis Exhibition entitled We(I)ᴱnterFrag(me)nt{ary}. It was the culmination of two years of painting, researching, and hard work. It all started when my life fell apart. I realized that I was in pieces and that these pieces amalgamated into a being unified by a face and a name: me. All of these fragments of my self felt distant and strange like multiple mes each with their own wants and needs. As I started to paint and to get deeper into art I wanted to represent this multiplicity, this fragmentary aspect of the human experience, but I was missing something. I could paint multiple faces in one, but it would just look trippy or scary, it was missing the things that make us human. So I turned to collage.

The back drop of our lives are swirling and ever changing, yet ever present, cultural and historical meaning that gives context to our lives. Whether we are born in one area or migrate to another, we pick up the history and the cultural meaning of those places, we are affected by the people around us, the activities, music, etc that we like, and by the mountains of text and images that we all interact with on a daily basis. These assemblages of data, history, and culture are what contextualize our fragmentary and multiplicitous identities, giving permission to be fluid, because not one of us is a static whole. Instead we are beings of possiblity, boundless in our capacity to learn and change.

This project gave me the opportunity to work with some amazing people and materials. I got access to letters from the 1700’s which are some of the most beautiful things I’ve had my hands on. One of my models also graciously donated documents of their families lives, detailing their ancestors experiences and how they immigrated into this country and what they achieved here. These documents when back generations and was so moving to look through that I couldn’t believe that I was given the honor of working with them.

This is why this project was so meaningful to me. I got to grapple with one of the most difficult and illusive things: the human experience. I got to get to know such interesting stories and to create art inspired by the beautiful people that we all are.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains, and was always a creative. My mom was an artist who always had projects going on between her job and taking care of the family, and while I didn’t turn to painting until later in my life, her and her spirit were a great inspiration to me. When I was 18 I started getting serious about painting, but it wasn’t until I attended MSU Denver that I got into collage. This combination of oil paint and collage is a fragmentary and sometimes hallucinatory experience that I’ve found to be a unique aesthetic.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Honestly I wish that I had known and had the confidence to ask other creatives/artists for help, advice, etc. We’re all in this together and I’ve found that most creatives are some of the most helpful and kind people around. It can feel like we’re all alone, but forming a community of other artists is pivotal.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me the most rewarding part of being an artist is being able to explore the deepest parts of my self and the human experience. And to be able to create things and to see peoples reactions to them. It never gets old.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://raymondgabrielart.com
• Instagram: @paintings_byray