In Gabrielle Roshelli’s quest for the unfamiliar, the ancient, the profound—she found herself seeking to continuously feel. Her visual imagery is a combination of her own personal language of abstraction, and inspiration from cultures that she visits around the world. She uses watercolors and inks, layered with different combinations of colored pencil, chalk, and oil pastels, to convey the fluidity of her life and ever-flowing emotions.
In her earlier work, she explored abstraction and automatic painting through watercolor and mixed media. She would prepare her space as if she were to enter into ritual - then, she would begin to create marks and brushstrokes through a series of channeled movements and writings that came through her subconscious. Many of her paintings contained barely legible writings - from her journal or from automatic messages that came about during the creation process. Her ceramic sculptures are abstractions of natural forms that prompted others to interact within the space—triggering a practice of self-inquiry for the viewer.
Presently, Roshelli has visited 13 different countries across the globe. Through her travels, she seeks to connect with the totality of humanity and its vast, vibrant, and powerful cultures, as well as patterns, shapes, colors, and textures of natural landscapes. She sees nature and humanity as one—not to be separated, but to be understood in unison. She believes in the preservation of traditional handicrafts, and she seeks to merge the energies of the old world with imagery from a new and contemporary visual lens. Her hope is that her work inspires others to reflect on where we came from, who we are now, and where we are going. By continuously coming back to these sensations in our body, we can begin to understand the answers to these questions.
Gabrielle Roshelli is a nomadic artist currently based between the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Montpellier, France. Gabrielle’s work is as multi-disciplinary as her lifestyle. She works with the mediums of watercolor, oil pastel, clay, inks, and metal, creating a variety of paintings, jewelry, and clay sculptures. Originally from North Carolina, she studied art in the beautiful mountain town of Boone, graduating from Appalachian State University holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts.
Her work most recently was featured in Paris, France, at Galerie Joseph, in collaboration with ImageNation Paris and assistant curator Simeon Van der Hoeven. She has self-curated 2 of her own solo exhibitions in North Carolina. She was the co - founder of Lilim Studio, an international artist collective in Oaxaca, Mexico. In addition, she participated as an intern and muralist at Womb Artist Residency in Mexico City. In May 2024, she will have her paintings featured in exhibitions for the first time in Belgium, and continues to show her work in various galleries and festival settings internationally.