ARTIST: Jeff Gillette (American 1959-)  

TITLE: MINKSY MICKEY MOUSE 

CRITICAL DATA: 2018, Hand-painted 3-color Spray Paint / Stencil on Paper, 8.50 x 11.00 IN. Unique Edition Numbered 1/1 Original Painting, Signed Lower Right. 

PROVENANCE: Originally Acquired at the artist's 2018 Exhibition; The Worst Case Scenario Show. Purchased from Mercer Auction House, 2021.

Authenticated by Borgia, INC. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

"I am from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. In the late 1980s I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal for two years. During this two-year stint, I visited every major city in India, finding myself exploring the huge slums found there. On my return to home, I moved from the Mid-West to escape the snow to teach High School Art in Orange County, California. Since finishing my MFA at Cal State Fullerton, I have been exhibiting in galleries both at home and abroad..

My work is most often landscapes. A major portion of my output is paintings of slums of the developing world, where I often add an element of western cultural privilege (and oblivion) into settings of urban blight. Inspiration for what I call 'Slumscapes' comes from first-hand experience travelling. Most often I return over and over to my favorite destination: India. In the vast poverty-stricken fringes of its vast megalopolises I trip out on how the economic disparities are obscenely extreme. I've been spending a lot of time in Mumbai slums: photographing, filming, creating Plein Aire paintings and creating interactive street art.

Besides depicting slums, my artwork portrays post-apocalyptic debris fields, landfills, and detritus-cluttered deserts. The Juxtaposition of Disney themes and beloved characters (i.e.: Mickey Mouse) with all these dystopias best conveys my personal views. Pondering contemporary social, political, economical and philosophical conundrums, I cant help but feel absurdly helpless, pessimistic and humored about the future of Western Civilization.

- Jeff Gillette