statement

Through my artwork, I explore personal and collective narratives. I am drawn to the tension between the grotesque and the beautiful - to the act of peeling back façades, knowing there is always more beneath the surface. I’m compelled by the ever-shifting experience of being human: how, no matter how much we seek safety and control, we are in constant flux, the ground collapsing under our feet.

My work emerges from an intuitive, body-based process, shaped by a sustained meditation practice that focuses on the subtle relationship between mind, body, and a larger field of awareness. Recently, I have been engaged in an ongoing inquiry into somatic memory: the ways the body holds experience within its tissues, how we construct armor around ourselves, and how the past remains embedded in the present.

I work with acrylic, oil stick, charcoal, pastel, fabric, embroidery thread, beeswax and found objects. When I create, I let the emotional and sensory information in my own body guide my marks. Sometimes the marks are delicate, tracing the contours of lips or eyes. Other times, they dig into the page with broad strokes. With the deliberate act of erasure, I uncover remnants of the mark making, allowing for what is hidden to be revealed. The resulting complex, scarred surfaces create fragmented narratives, exposing that which has been hidden or constrained.

BIO

Gabrielle Anderman (b. New York; lives and works in San Francisco) received her BFA from UCLA and her MFA from California College of the Arts. She also studied at the Écoles des Beaux-Arts in Pau and Paris, France. She has presented solo exhibitions at SFMOMA Artists Gallery (San Francisco), TAG Gallery (Los Angeles), Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center (Hawaii), and Schaefer International Gallery (Hawaii). Her work has been exhibited at Frieze Los Angeles with James Fuentes Gallery (2026), the California College of the Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Wattis Institute (2025), the Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Exhibition at SOMArts (2024), ICA San Francisco (2024), Embodied Narratives at California College of the Arts (2024), and Artists of Hawai'i at the Downtown Art Center, Honolulu (2023). Recent honors include the Murphy & Cadogan Award, induction into the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA), two California College of the Arts Fine Arts Merit Scholarships, and acquisition of her work by the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Art in Public Places Collection. In 2025, she was inducted into the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA). Her work has been featured in LA Weekly, Studio Visit Magazine, OnMaui Magazine, and Maui Time.