This piece is the other side of the glass, representing the girl’s own isolated world. I picked my favorite trees for the background to represent how nature makes me feel, showing that the girl is trying to use nature to cope. – Gina
Artist: Gina Ledor (2002 — )
Date: 2019
Medium: Digital painting (Apple Pencil on iPad Pro with Procreate graphic software) over imported pencil drawing
Dimensions: Optional. On paper, the maximum available size is 43.6 x ~67″. On aluminum, the maximum is 48 x ~74″. The first prints have been 61.0 x 96.5 cm, 24 x 38” on aluminum.
Matrix: Printing is available in UV-protected glossy (or other) aluminum or in a choice of papers
Edition: This is a small limited edition with printing to order by Bay Photo (Scotts Valley, CA). To date, one artist’s proof has been printed on glossy, UV-filtering (EXT) aluminum. The total edition will likely remain below 100 numbered proofs.
Signature: Digitally signed, bottom right
Exhibition history: Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA, April 17-30, 2019
Condition: Pristine
Framing: Optional; available in a choice of frames, ranging from a simple hidden, inset frame (which provides the support structure for a picture wire) to a custom, welded aluminum frame
Price: Upon request
Below is Gina’s artist’s statement, referring to a body of work she created for her high school art class exhibition, which opened on April 18, 2019 at Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA. Please go to Through the Glass to view the companion painting and the other art in her exhibit.
Art as Coping
A year and a half ago, I heard that my friend had taken his own life. This came as a great shock, as I had known him as a cheerful, bubbly person who made everyone laugh–the last person I would ever have expected to have been depressed. I entered a long period of mourning, and it seems the loss I feel will always remain with me.
Since then, my awareness of and attitude toward mental illness have evolved. Because of the disparity between his outgoing personality and the sadness he hid beneath the surface, I began to realize that there is much that people don’t know about each other. Now I pay much more attention to the mental health of those around me. I have become aware that because of the stigma surrounding mental illness, those suffering from it feel isolated and often keep their troubles to themselves.
I make art in the hopes of contributing to the creation of an environment that allows people to talk about their struggles and seek help. To this end, I try to understand those around me who have experienced emotional distress and to explore their coping mechanisms. The meaning in my work comes from the process of making art itself as much as the final product itself—creating is one of the best mechanisms I and others have for coping. The creation of each piece in itself was an outlet, a place I could escape to and relax in its repetitive patterns, from crochet stitches to doodles. I tend to draw faces when I doodle. I think the reason is that often, facial expressions unwittingly reveal underlying emotions that people are trying to hide.
The friend I lost loved to knit, and I often saw him knitting scarves and promptly unravelling them. He always said it was simply because he wasn’t happy with them, but, looking back, I think it was his way of coping. I wanted to make a piece representing both that and the way someone’s life can unravel. The unraveling of my piece is a reflection of the way he knitted and a metaphor for his despair.
-Gina