Gina Gaiser

Gina Gaiser is an Oakland-based artist working primarily in photography and digital media. In high school, she was the first female student to work in the print shop duplicating printed school district forms. This is where she found her love of print processes, paper, and the smell of ink. She received a BA in Studio Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned a certificate in Printmaking and Art History from Il Bisonte School of Graphic Arts in Florence, Italy. Upon her return to the Bay Area, she co-founded the artist collective Ben Dunne Presents producing pop-up art events and later received an MFA from Mills College in Digital Media, Video, and Sculpture. Gaiser’s photographs have been selected to be in numerous competitive group shows juried by Curators from the MoMA NYC, Oakland Museum of CA, and the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle. She is a Member Artist at the Gearbox Gallery Contemporary Art in Oakland.

My work examines how cycles of daily life affect us over time. Everyday, mundane, repetitive actions are ever-present in our lives and shape who we are. I am curious how many of these actions we are conscious of. What is significant or recognized? What is ignored or forgotten? Time and place are important. I create photographs that document a specific moment that is unique but is something we may not otherwise notice or remember. Using a digital camera, camcorder, or phone and photo editing software to simplify the images, I focus on formal compositions, creating a series that are like pages of a book, cells in a comic strip, or stills from a film. In the Anthropocene, the human age, we recognize humanity's impact on the planet. It is in this context that I explore how we navigate through our environment, build structures, and connect with others.