Gina M

American Alphabet , a piece from artist Gina M.’s ongoing series titled, The New Normal, is a A 72’ x 48” wall mounted puzzle with magnetic wooden tiles mounted to the wall at different levels, displaying text from an original poem by the artist.

The series, The New Normal, features pieces resembling familiar elements from a classic American classroom, with bright primary colors, blinking lights, chalkboards on the wall, and a patriotic desk supporting a tower of colorful blocks. The sculptures playfully introduce children to a horrific new normal. Look closer. The poem on the American Alphabet reads, “A begins Assault Rifle, a weapon of war. B is for Bullet, that shoots through a door.” With America's safety protocols in place, the media's modulating repetition of horrific facts, and the ever-increasing frequency of domestic terrorism, gun violence in America is soon normalized. The New Normal renders the invisible visible, revealing the apathy and indifference toward the emotional well-being and security of the next generation. Each piece in the series reflects a sardonic commentary on the subconscious conditioning of America's children, which normalizes domestic terrorism, while demanding that they simply “deal with it!”

Describing her practice as “whimsy with a dark side,” Gina M. is a sculptor, painter, and found-object assemblage artist using seemingly innocent childhood imagery (like teddy bears, toys, puppets and games) to create reactionary expressions of her inner emotional life. As the child of puppet theater operators, nurtured by puppets and their puppeteers, she developed an affinity for the anthropomorphic, which ultimately helped her cope with and accept the divorce and divide of her family. In college, she studied interior design and color theory at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, and studio arts at Pasadena City College. She worked on Kent Twitchell’s Colorado One Mural Project, and received private training in painted trompe l'oeil, faux finish, and decorative wall treatments. Her work has been exhibited at Gallery 825, Blue Roof Studios, the Irvine Fine Arts Center, El Camino College Art Gallery, MOAH at the Lancaster Museum of Art, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and the Boone Family Gallery at Pasadena City College. Her solo exhibition, Through the Toyshop and Behind the Curtain, was featured at the Huntley Gallery at Cal State Pomona College.