Wally Gilbert

Description	:	Wally Gilbert had a long career as a Molecular Biologist. Awarded a Nobel prize in 1980 for discovering a rapid DNA sequencing method, he is now following a new passion in creating visual art. He has had seventeen one-person shows, including a show at the Massachusetts College of Art in 2004 and a major installation in Warsaw and Lodz last year. Artist’s Statement: This show leads with a series of images of ballet dancers in motion and repose. I was given access to the rehearsals of Boston Ballet by its artistic director, Mikko Nissinen, and created a long series of images that will appear in a book on the Boston Ballet by Christine Temin. These pictures seek to capture the joy the dancers take in their movements. The presentation of these images in the show is as 36” x 24” prints face-mounted on 1/4” plexiglas and held away from the wall by a cleat, to isolate and intensify the visual image. The second set of images is drawn from a bullfight that I attended in Madrid the summer of 2007. They were taken from high up in the stands with a Canon Elph, SD850, and stretch the optical and digital zoom of a small camera to its limits, as the light fades in the late afternoon. Here I have tried to capture the color and motion of the fight. These are archival prints: a 13” x 19” image on a heavy matte paper, a sheet of 18” x 24” German Etching Paper. The third set of images contains two hangings on canvas that provide a meditation on silhouetted forms in the sky reflected in a pool of water on a rough floor. These pictures of soaring and falling bodies were created in the computer out of photographic elements. The fourth set of pictures is one of still-life images, playing with light and color. Again, these are archival prints: a 13” x 19” image on a heavy matte paper, a sheet of 18” x 24” German Etching Paper. I seek to find elements of beauty in the visual world stressing form, texture, and color. These become abstract through isolation and magnification. I compose in the camera and again in the computer, which is my digital darkroom. One Person Shows: “Stillness and Motion” Viridian Artists, Chelsea, NYC, September 2 – 27, 2008 “LEEKS & CHAINS” Khaki Gallery, Wellesley, MA, April 22 – May 30, 2008. “The Norblin Project and other Images” CJ Art Gallery, San Diego, CA, November 1 – November 29, 2007. BAAK Gallery, Cambridge, MA, October 18 – November 14, 2007. Norblin Installation, Galeria PATIO, Lodz, Poland, curated by Zuk Piekowski, Jan Kubasiewicz, and Aurelia Mandziuk, September 1 – October 14, 2007. Norblin Site Installation, Warsaw, Poland, curated by Jan Kubasiewicz and Zuk Piekowski, May 28 – July 31, 2007. “The Norblin Project: Images of Decay,” The American Center for Physics, College Park, MD. April – September, 2007. “IN COLOR” Khaki Gallery, Wellesley, MA, April 2 – May 10, 2007. “The Norblin Project: Images of Decay,” Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA. October 25 – December 9, 2006. “The Norblin Project: Images of Decay,” Viridian Artists Gallery, Chelsea, NYC, Sept 26 – Oct 14, 2006. Jock Colville Hall, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, June 13 – 25, 2006. BAAK Gallery, Cambridge, MA, February 8 – 28, 2006. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, August, 2005. Cold Spring Harbor Public Library, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, September, 2005. Ann Janss Gallery, Los Angeles, January – November, 2005. SCAT gallery, Somerville, MA, February 1 – March 31, 2005. Doran Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art, curated by Jan Kubasiewicz, October 13 – November 3, 2004.