JEFF GILLETTE (AMERICAN b. 1959),
DISMAY
hand-finished print on paper, from the Dismay Show circa 2017
image size 19cm x 27cm, overall size 38cm x 45cm
Mounted, framed and under glass.
Note: Jeff Gillette is a contemporary American artist based in Southern California. He is best known for his subversive 'slumscape' paintings ironically featuring Disney characters. He is often cited as the inspiration for Banksy's 2015 Dismaland theme park installation, in which he was a featured artist. Gillette has been exhibiting his work since 1997, with his first solo show at Broadway Gallery in Santa Ana, CA. The style he is currently known for emerged in a solo show called "Slumscapes - Blasphemy Blowout," which depicted American fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's against backdrops of slums, as well as well-known cartoon figures juxtaposed with religious iconography. His 2010 solo show at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica, "Dismayland," was a commercial success and drew interest in his work from British artist Banksy. The aesthetic and themes established here began to define him as an artist. In 2015, Banksy contacted Gillette through his manager to purchase a Minnie Hiroshima painting (that became the official poster available at the Dismaland gift shop). Gillette was invited to be in a group exhibition in England at what was then described as an abandoned theme park. Gillette discovered upon arriving at the unlikely beach town Weston Super Mare, that this park was Dismaland. His pieces sold very quickly at the show. Based upon his success, Gillette began to show in London at the former Lawrence Alkin Gallery now the Rhodes Gallery and internationally elsewhere. Gillette began to explore the actual value of art in his work. In 2017, Gillette had a solo show at Gregorio Escalante Gallery in Los Angeles called "Total Dismay," that turned the exhibition space into an "art landfill." In the show, he premiered a series of new paintings mounted on walls and priced thousands of dollars, while the floor was littered with paper prints that patrons would actually walk on top of, that were for sale for $5. This artwork being one of these in the ‘Art Landfill’. In Spring 2015, Gillette was messaged on Facebook by Banksy's manager and invited to participate in a secretive group exhibition called Dismaland, a temporary art project organized by Banksy and built in the resort town of Weston-super-Mare, three hours outside of London. The pop-up would be a fully functioning theme park designed as "a sinister twist on Disneyland." It opened on August 21, 2015 and ran until September 27. Banksy described it as a "family theme park unsuitable for children." Including Gillette, the show featured 58 artists, such as Bill Barminski, Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, Peter Kennard, and Ben Long. Gillette premiered six new paintings on canvas for the pop-up as part of his "Dismayland" series