MITRA FABIAN: ITERATIONS
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 19th, 5 - 8pm October 19 - November 16, 2019 |
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |

George Billis Gallery is pleased to present Mitra Fabian: Iterations - the gallery’s first solo exhibition of sculptural works by the Bay Area-based artist. Iterations will feature Fabian's most recent ceramic sculptures and wall works in porcelain and circuit board parts. There will be a reception for the artist on Saturday, October 19th, from 5-8pm, and the exhibition continues through November 16th.
Fabian is a sculptor and installation artist working almost exclusively with manufactured materials - the leftovers, the by-products, the remnants of human activity. Her current body of work consists of sculptures and works on paper made with resistors, capacitors, and diodes, the candy-colored components one finds on circuit boards. The sculptures consist of perforated abstract ceramic forms into which she inserts the wire ends of the resistors. The works on paper reference textile, geometric, and organic patterns.
As she builds with these materials, she deconstructs them or alters them in such a way that they are not immediately recognizable. The reconstruction is in some way determined by what the material is capable of doing, but not meant to do. The new physical form is always more organic, often mimicking the appearance of natural patterns, landscape, magnified cells, or mold. Her usage of these materials serves as a commentary on the increasingly modified condition of humans, which pits nature against culture and blurs the line between organic and manufactured.
Fabian is interested in the fact that these materials are ubiquitous in almost any electronic device and are intrinsic to the industry that thrives in Silicon Valley where she lives. Intriguingly, these kinds of objects have their limitations in an industry that seeks to get smaller, sleeker, and faster. In using these components, she is commenting on the slowness of her process in opposition to the immediacy, technological advancement, and “progress” that these materials are thought to provide. And because these elements quickly end up as e-waste, she also seeks to illustrate a certain level of waste and intentional obsolescence that they can signify.
Mitra Fabian was born in Iran and raised in Boston. She received a BA in Art with an Anthropology minor from Kenyon College. She returned to school in 2002 to receive an MFA from California State University, Northridge. Fabian has been showing her work nationally since 1997, and had a solo show at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art in 2007. Her work has also been featured in shows the Museum of Contemporary Craft, the Laguna Art Museum, and the Armory Center for the Arts. Her work has been reviewed by several media organizations including Spark, KQED Television, Ruby Mag, an online Argentinean art magazine, Angeleno Magazine, and Artweek. She is a professor at West Valley College teaching sculpture and ceramics.
back to artist's page
Fabian is a sculptor and installation artist working almost exclusively with manufactured materials - the leftovers, the by-products, the remnants of human activity. Her current body of work consists of sculptures and works on paper made with resistors, capacitors, and diodes, the candy-colored components one finds on circuit boards. The sculptures consist of perforated abstract ceramic forms into which she inserts the wire ends of the resistors. The works on paper reference textile, geometric, and organic patterns.
As she builds with these materials, she deconstructs them or alters them in such a way that they are not immediately recognizable. The reconstruction is in some way determined by what the material is capable of doing, but not meant to do. The new physical form is always more organic, often mimicking the appearance of natural patterns, landscape, magnified cells, or mold. Her usage of these materials serves as a commentary on the increasingly modified condition of humans, which pits nature against culture and blurs the line between organic and manufactured.
Fabian is interested in the fact that these materials are ubiquitous in almost any electronic device and are intrinsic to the industry that thrives in Silicon Valley where she lives. Intriguingly, these kinds of objects have their limitations in an industry that seeks to get smaller, sleeker, and faster. In using these components, she is commenting on the slowness of her process in opposition to the immediacy, technological advancement, and “progress” that these materials are thought to provide. And because these elements quickly end up as e-waste, she also seeks to illustrate a certain level of waste and intentional obsolescence that they can signify.
Mitra Fabian was born in Iran and raised in Boston. She received a BA in Art with an Anthropology minor from Kenyon College. She returned to school in 2002 to receive an MFA from California State University, Northridge. Fabian has been showing her work nationally since 1997, and had a solo show at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art in 2007. Her work has also been featured in shows the Museum of Contemporary Craft, the Laguna Art Museum, and the Armory Center for the Arts. Her work has been reviewed by several media organizations including Spark, KQED Television, Ruby Mag, an online Argentinean art magazine, Angeleno Magazine, and Artweek. She is a professor at West Valley College teaching sculpture and ceramics.
back to artist's page
George Billis Gallery opened its second location in the Culver City area of Los Angeles in 2004 and marks its 23rd year in the Chelsea arts district in New York City. George Billis shows work by both emerging and established artists. For more information please contact the gallery at:
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
T: 310-838-3685
F: 310-838-3438
email: la@georgebillis.com
www.georgebillis.com
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
T: 310-838-3685
F: 310-838-3438
email: la@georgebillis.com
www.georgebillis.com