Showing May 15, 2019 – July 14, 2019
Artist Statement
I am intrigued by the relationship between our internal landscapes and our external landscapes. Our experiences are stored in our subconscious and affect everything from how we see ourselves to our interaction with others. Simply, I am interested in how thoughts create reality.
I am writing a fantasy-fiction novel with autobiographical elements set in a dystopian world. In this world, humans and nature are separate, humans are separate from their true selves and are controlled by a conditioned culture.
My protagonist, Fern Rose, works for the Library of Memory and is a Memory Tuner—someone who extracts people’s memories during tuning sessions (interviews) and stores them in the Library afterward.
The Library of Memory is a visual narrative of Fern’s coming-of-age story. The story reveals how Fern was sent to Earth from another place to understand more about herself, her relationship to nature, and to discover her soul mission. Along the way, she discovers her alter-ego, Volvo Night Fox, a superhero-like character who is accomplished in the healing and martial arts. As Volvo Fern realizes, she must complete a very specific mission—to reconnect humans to nature and Truth.
My motivation to create is to better understand the world & to be my own hero, to trust myself & my intuitive magic & to thrive independently by claiming my power through sharing freely, without fear. I want to communicate stories to share ideas about control, dependence, politics, and fragility & their inverse: freedom, independence, & strength. The purpose of my novel and this show is to stimulate wonder within the viewer and to encourage him/her to investigate their realities and discover Truth through Fiction.
Artist Bio
F.R. Gagliano is an interdisciplinary artist working in illustration, painting, creative writing, and songwriting. Gagliano is also a practicing energy healer, a certified Reiki Master and Theta Healer. As an artist and healer, Gagliano creates work about nature, healing, God/Source/Energy, communication, interconnectedness, intuition, dreams, memory, POV of shared experience, Time, and uncovering hidden memories and truths.
Gagliano’s work has been exhibited by Misker Gallery, Thumbs Up Detroit, DMJ Studios, Artworks Detroit, Museum of New Art, Corktown Studios, Fancy Pants Arts & Entertainment and Hand Group Studios. Their work has been shown at the following exhibition spaces: The Carr Center, The Detroit Contemporary, Northend Studios & Gallery, The Jam Handy, Tangent Gallery, Woods Gallery, The Alchemy, Blick Detroit, The Detroit Public Library–Main Library, ARC Gallery in Chicago, IL; Intermedia Arts Gallery and the Theological Seminary Gallery in Minneapolis, MN. F.R. Gagliano illustrated Kelly Sheehy’s children’s book, Ocean Whispers.
F.R. Gagliano received an M.F.A. in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
