September 9 – November 11, 2023
From William Campbell Gallery:
“William Campbell Gallery (WCG) is pleased to debut painter Gigi Mills, a new artist not only to the gallery but to Texas as well. WCG will present her solo debut exhibition titled Monty and Other Stories on Saturday, September 9, 2023. Gigi is actively creating fresh paintings specifically for this exhibition and will open on FWADA Fall Gallery Night. Gigi has exhibited her work professionally since 2004 across the country and calls Santa Fe, NM her home.
This solo debut exhibition will feature figurative paintings that have her unique approach to her subjects with elusively anonymous characters that tell an untold story. Mills’ subjects are not always what the typical viewer might consider beautiful; they are her experiences processed onto board with oil. Her paintings and series are an overall amalgamation of impactful experiences, and the result is her later expressions of those events.
The palate is intentional and in person is quite multifaceted. Mills says that the paint on panels or canvas is very important to her. The viewer will experience the color as an emotion. Mills says of her technique, “Color caries emotion for us. Because I use oils, the oils affect light. If you are putting gesso on correctly, then there may be orange and then there may be fourteen, five, or six layers of colors on top of that; but when the light hits the gesso and then bounces back at the eye it carries all of the colors with it. Therefore, if you are not aware that you are seeing that first orange, you feel it. That is what I believe.”
Gigi Mills has shown her work in over 41 exhibitions since 2004 in San Francisco, CA; Santa Fe, NM; New Orleans, LA and in New York, NY. This will be Mills’ first exhibition in Texas. Director, Anne Kelly Lewis says, “We are thrilled to bring Gigi’s work to Fort Worth. Her work for me is highly emotional and can bring out our own internal stories. They really have more layers than what the apparent narrative may be; the layers of color and her entire painterly approach allow the viewer to have a reflective experience.”
Mills received her BFA in Theater from the College of Santa Fe and received her MA in Choreography from the University of New Mexico. Her background in choreography may lead the viewer to think that her connection to the human form is significant in her work. However, when Gigi reflects on her time with dance, she states that she was more interested in the negative space between and around the body than the body itself. The foreground and background of her works today reflect the relationship between objects and negative space.
The exhibition’s opening reception will take place on September 9, 2023, from 12 PM – 9 PM at 4935 Byers Ave, Fort Worth Texas, 76107. The show will run through November 11, 2023.”
Reception: September 9, 2023 | 12–9 pm
William Campbell Gallery (Byers Avenue)
4935 Byers Avenue
Fort Worth, 76107 Texas