Gabriel Dote

For my artwork, I decided to develop a theme of pop culture and “iconic” things, by either being directly influenced from another work, or being more creative. I explored the theme in as many mediums as I felt comfortable with. I started with simple drawings I then moved to photography, followed by larger drawings and ending with 3d objects. I hope by exploring this theme to give the viewer their own experience as hopefully some of my pieces can be associated with happy memories, like it does for me. For my work as a whole, some people that influenced me were Chihuly, Mel Brooks, and Jeff Koons. Chihuly and Jeff Koons have influenced me by creating their own world. I was fortunate enough to visit Chihuly’s glass garden in Seattle. I’ve decided to align my work in a salon style, or some pieces and series being mixed together rather than a grid form. I decided to do this because I feel like most of my work can be connected and flow together, rather than a series or a piece being separated from another one. When knowing where I was going to be placed in the school, I had to figure out how I wanted to do my show. I knew I wanted to make my space feel like a workroom or bedroom, but only in a subtle way. I decided to put a small desk with my cartoons on it, and my shoes under it, as well as some other work, to make that feeling possible. I was then able to put my main work on the walls opposite of each other.