Flesh For Fantasy
Gail Stoicheff
Gail Stoicheff, Icon Olympus, 2020
In Situ: Temple of Hephaestus, Agora of Athens, Greece
Gail Stoicheff, Icon Olympus, 2020, oil and dye on canvas, 51 × 40.5 cm (20 × 16 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Icon Styx, 2020
In Situ: Erechtheion Porch of Caryatids, Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Gail Stoicheff, Icon Styx, 2020, oil and dye on canvas, 33 × 30.5 cm (13 × 12 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Ephesus Shield, 2020
In Situ: Parthenon, Athenian Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Gail Stoicheff, Ephesus Shield, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff Icon Eos, 2020
In Situ: Atrium, Pompeii, Italy
Gail Stoicheff, Icon Eos, 2020, oil and dye on canvas, 46 × 41 cm (18 × 16 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Ephesus Stag, 2020
In Situ: Pompeii (interior), Italy
Gail Stoicheff, Ephesus Stag, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Icon 3 Sisters, 2020
In Situ: Pompeii Villa, Italy
Gail Stoicheff, Icon 3 Sisters, 2020, oil and dye on canvas, 51 × 43 cm (20 × 17 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Olympus Demeter, 2020
In Situ: Library of Celus, Ephesus, Turkey
Gail Stoicheff, Olympus Demeter, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Olympus Hephaestus, 2020
In Situ: Basilica of St John, Ephesus, Turkey
Gail Stoicheff, Olympus Hephaestus, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Icon Ceto, 2020
In Situ: Temple of Hadrian, Ephesus, Turkey
Gail Stoicheff, Icon Ceto, 2020, oil and dye on canvas, 38 × 33 cm (15 × 13 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Giza Breach, 2020
In Situ: Great Hypostyle Hall, Luxor, Egypt
Gail Stoicheff
Giza Breach, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Giza Halo, 2020
In Situ: Pyramid of Khafre, Giza, Egypt
Gail Stoicheff, Giza Halo, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Hestia, 2020
In Situ: The Roman Baths, Bath, United Kingdom
Gail Stoicheff, Hestia, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff, Amphitrite, 2020
In Situ: Stonehenge, Salisbury, United Kingdom
Gail Stoicheff, Amphitrite, 2020, oil, dye and fringe on canvas, 96.5 × 71 cm (38 × 28 in)
Gail Stoicheff
Flesh For Fantasy
Sept 20 – Oct 25, 2020
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
Walt Whitman
In the post-truth world of deep fakes, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery is pleased to present Flesh For Fantasy, a show of new paintings by Gail Stoicheff and the shallowest of fakes. Taking place over 5 weeks and 5 fantasy locations, F.F.F. indulges the fetishization of crumbling foundations, paint, place and travel as raw material for much needed reverie in troubling times. Situated in ancient and evocative settings, Flesh For Fantasy imagines scenarios from the improbable to the impossible, in both scale and site.
Stoicheff presents 13 vibrantly colored paintings that transmit confidence in the power of bold abstraction married with the intimacy of articulated details. Her rich studio practice advances the medium’s traditions using velvet, fringe and dye as well as conventional canvas and oil paint. The body is subtly present, meandering through the work as gestural hand marks, loose figures and references to the Vitruvian form. Above all, her ethos telegraphs conviction in the vitality of touch, both raw and refined.
Flesh For Fantasy celebrates the artist as consummate fantasist, extending the freedom of the studio to the exhibition site and positing that anything should be entertained, however unreasonable. The paintings are real and modest in stature. The rest—scale in-situ, locale and subsequent context—is purely flesh for fantasy.