Biography

Andrew Gilbert (1980, Edinburgh) in his drawings and installations combines his studies of Primitivism in Modern Art, military history and a rich personal language of symbols and characters (such as “Andrew Emperor of Africa” or “Holy Brocoli”). He examines the representations of exotic cliches, and propaganda techniques used to demonize the eternal foreign Other. His work refers to the Western “Colonial Exhibitions”, military museums dioramas and ethnographic museums presentations, and draws parallels between the 19th Century Imperial conquests and present day Military Occupations. In doing so he questions who is really “primitive” and critiques the Western Historical narrative and contemporary nostalgia for Empire that led to, for example, Brexit and the rise of nationalism across Europe today. All of this is combined with absurdist humour and often grotesque violence. Andrew Gilbert, who currently lives and works in Berlin, has visited four times in recent years South Africa to study the battlefields of the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War, the Boer War and the military campaigns of Shaka Zulu. The artist exhibited his works in several international (Europe, South Africa, Japan) private and public venues, as the London Tate Modern.

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Artworks

Journal

Interviews, Posted on 12/05/2020

MEET OUR CAPE TOWN ART FAIR ARTISTS

by Cape Town Art Fair

#ArtistWor(l)d: 5 questions to Umar Rashid and Andrew Gilbert

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Events, Posted on 08/02/2020

CELLAR CONTEMPORARY IS BACK TO CAPE TOWN

by Camilla Nacci

For the second time we’ll be present in the art fair with a booth which features three sections, in collaboration with Studio d’Arte Raffaelli.

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Events, Posted on 08/04/2019

OPENING THE FATE OF EMPIRES

by Camilla Nacci

On Thursday, April 4, Cellar Contemporary and Studio d’Arte Raffaelli inaugurate the exhibition whose protagonists are Andrew Gilbert, Jarmila Mitríková & Dávid Demjanovič and Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers).

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