For New York-based artist Gabrielle Garland, painting and built spaces have always seemed inextricably linked. She grew up helping out with her mother’s decorative painting business and so, in her own work, it felt natural to paint built spaces too; only she was using oil and acrylic to represent them instead.
Garland creates colourful, almost cartoonish portraits of houses, dappled with glowing sunlight and tender details. With a solo exhibition of these works about to open in her home city, Garland explains: “Humans have always had the need and drive to make a home for themselves, whatever the setting and circumstances. The challenge of defining territory and making oneself a home is a timeless one.”
I’ll Get You, My Pretty, and Your Little Dog Too runs from 4 September to 25 October at Miles McEnery gallery in New York
