Body Prop

Gina Osterloh
Silverlens, Manila

About

    This August, LA-based artist Gina Osterloh opens silverlens with Body Prop, a successor of her exhibits known for their room-sized sets.

    Often using the body to complete her work’s messages, Osterloh works with characteristics that are readily accessible – simple color palettes (red and black; white and grey; and blue); the use of portraiture; and material such as paper and cardboard. The structure of the set combined with the positions of the bodies creates a play between two and three-dimensionality, where characters and patterns share similarities in order to make their differences visible. 

    Body Prop’s figures possess straightforwardness because of seemingly recognizable human acts – making the peace sign, raising arms and sitting. The contact, however, that an observer tries to make with these figures is not reciprocal because of the absence of a face, and other bodily details that are blotted out. Through familiar and conventional portraiture the viewer is encouraged to engage in the act of looking, while play with pattern and camouflage diffuses vision.

    By use of forced perspective with the camera and the manipulation of flatness, three-dimensionality and pattern, Body Prop creates an uneasy ground between portraiture and abstraction.

    Osterloh holds a Masteral Degree in Fine Arts, Studio Art from the University of California, Irvine. In 2007, she received a Fulbright grant to research on surrealism and contemporary art in the Philippines. She has exhibited widely in countries including the US, Philippines, Portugal, Malaysia and Australia.

    Words by Jel Tordesillas

This August, LA-based artist Gina Osterloh opens silverlens with Body Prop, a successor of her exhibits known for their room-sized sets.

Often using the body to complete her work’s messages, Osterloh works with characteristics that are readily accessible – simple color palettes (red and black; white and grey; and blue); the use of portraiture; and material such as paper and cardboard. The structure of the set combined with the positions of the bodies creates a play between two and three-dimensionality, where characters and patterns share similarities in order to make their differences visible. 

Body Prop’s figures possess straightforwardness because of seemingly recognizable human acts – making the peace sign, raising arms and sitting. The contact, however, that an observer tries to make with these figures is not reciprocal because of the absence of a face, and other bodily details that are blotted out. Through familiar and conventional portraiture the viewer is encouraged to engage in the act of looking, while play with pattern and camouflage diffuses vision.

By use of forced perspective with the camera and the manipulation of flatness, three-dimensionality and pattern, Body Prop creates an uneasy ground between portraiture and abstraction.

Osterloh holds a Masteral Degree in Fine Arts, Studio Art from the University of California, Irvine. In 2007, she received a Fulbright grant to research on surrealism and contemporary art in the Philippines. She has exhibited widely in countries including the US, Philippines, Portugal, Malaysia and Australia.

Words by Jel Tordesillas

Works

Single Figure
2011
3817
2
archival pigment print
11.50h x 14.50w in • 29.21h x 36.83w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Double Figures
2011
3818
2
archival pigment print
11.50h x 14.50w in • 29.21h x 36.83w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
the artist’s hand, give me your hand
2011
3819
2
archival pigment print
11.50h x 14.49w in • 29.20h x 36.80w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Body Prop
2010
3806
2
lightjet (c-print)
7.99h x 10w in • 20.30h x 25.40w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Split Copy (Body Prop)
2010
3807
2
lightjet (c-print)
7.99h x 10w in • 20.30h x 25.40w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Rear Peace
2010
3808
2
lightjet (c-print)
7.99h x 10w in • 20.30h x 25.40w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Empty (Body Prop)
2010
3809
2
lightjet (c-print)
7.99h x 10w in • 20.30h x 25.40w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Analog Code for Unstable Viewing
2010
3810
2
archival pigment print with UV laminate
8h x 10w in 20.32h x 25.40w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Anonymous Front (Group Threshold)
2010
3811
2
archival pigment print with UV laminate
36h x 45w in • 91.44h x 114.30w cm
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Gina Osterloh
Collapse #2
2010
3812
2
archival pigment print with UV laminate
20.47h x 26.30w in • 52h x 66.80w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Flat Copy (Misregistered)
2010
3813
2
archival pigment print with UV laminate
30h x 40w in • 76.20h x 101.60w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Bruise Points and Other Infinite Pricks
2010
3814
2
archival pigment print with UV laminate
8h x 10w in • 20.32h x 25.40w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Small Group Dynamic
2010
3815
2
archival pigment print with UV laminate
11h x 14.50w in • 27.94h x 36.83w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Gina Osterloh
Wide Group Dynamic
2010
3816
2
archival pigment print with UV laminate
8.50h x 11w in • 21.59h x 27.94w cm
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Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proof
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Installation Views

Artist Page

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