Michele Gabriele, “Study for the Plumage of a Parrot. An Unbothered, Sad, and Cringe Parrot. Indifferent to its Context”, 2025

Acrylic on paper
29,7 x 21 cm

Minimum donation price: €500

A growing series, part of a recent collection of drawings and paintings created as studies for the plumage of parrots, depicting imaginary textures, unconventional color combinations, and shapes that oscillate between abstraction and figuration.

The parrot is symbolically associated with innocence, purity, communication, freedom, and intelligence.
Native to tropical forests, it is now bred as a domestic animal in most parts of the world.
With a certain lightheartedness and perhaps little thought, these animals are commonly adopted to bring joy and color to the lives of their owners, deprived of their nature while being celebrated for it.

The title, “(…) An Unbothered, Sad, and Cringe Parrot. Indifferent to its Context”, suggests dismay and shame, as a result of the inertia and complicity of government bodies, politicians, and international organisations in the face of the daily devastation endured by the Palestinian people and the failure of the promise to never again allow genocide and inhumane man-made atrocities to occur.

Michele Gabriele (they/he) is an artist currently based in Milan.
Gabriele is recognized mostly for their sculptures, paintings, and performances. Their work addresses the contrast between the digital and material worlds, exploring the feeling of inadequacy engendered by progressive visions of an eco-sustainable future against the disillusionment of their concrete realization. Michele Gabriele’s work is deeply rooted in exploring the distances between representation and materiality, as well as the divergences between space and time relative to the observer.
Among his notable solo exhibitions are EACC Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo de Castellón (2023), MeetFactory in Prague (2023), NAM Museum, Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence (2022), Ashes/Ashes Gallery in New York (2022), Fondazione Pini in Milan (2016), and Kunstihoone Art All in Tallinn (2015). They have also participated in various group exhibitions, such as at ICA Institute of Contemporary Art in Maine, Portland (2024), FRAC Corsica (2024), MAH Musée d’art et d’histoire in Geneva (2023), International Objects in New York (2023), the 16th Contemporary Art Biennale Alios (2019), and Et.Al Gallery in San Francisco (2018).