Hybrid art is a contemporary trend that fuses different media, genres and cultural materials as new expressions that transcend boundaries between art forms. Artist Monica Gallon understands the complexities involved in both painting and textile art, and her works reflect this aesthetic while simultaneously illustrating scenes from everyday life.
Hanging in Gallon’s studio is a work entitled Positivt Besked. It is an engaging piece portraying a woman sitting in a black retro chair, wearing a red suit with matching heels. She is on the phone, preventing her from directly engaging the viewer, however Gallon strategically pulls the observer into the space through the slight tilt of the woman’s head, exposing her subtle yet powerful gaze that seems to scream, “Can’t you see that I am busy?”. This piece illustrates Gallon’s dexterity as a seamstress, but also introduces her apptitude as a painter.
Gallon began her artistic career as a painter and a seamstress. The method behind her current body of work fuses her interest in both disciplines by merging of recycled and vintage fabrics to the canvas. Her textiles then reflect flat surfaces, multi-dimensional perspectives and realistic shadowing.
The work Tisdag Morgon exemplifies Gallon’s method of using fabrics in the same manner that a painter uses paint. We see a man sitting on a bench wearing a classic fedora and a vest and tie, which again illuminates Gallon’s sense of style and appreciation for fashion. He is flanked by two large dogs, one animal challenges the viewer’s sense of perspective by twisting its body towards the man but keeping its face directed towards the viewer. Gallon’s playfullness in terms of shadowing appears throughout the work. This is most notable upon the man’s shoe but also through the dogs’ shadows as they emerge in various different places. The background landscape provides perspective, illustrating an expansive forest of rich green shrubbery.
Gallon successfully applies the techniques that she has mastered in her previous career to create a new hybrid style of painting which exclusively incorporate textiles. Subsequently, her works of art exhibit the complexity of merging methods from these two mediums through timeless snapshots of everyday life.
