Artist: Jeff Gillette (20th Century)

Title: Abandoned Dismaland, 2019

Archival pigment print on Moab Fine Art paper.

17 x 24 inches (43.2 x 61 cm) (sheet)

Ed. 4/40

Signed and numbered in pencil along lower edge.

Published by 1xRUN, Detroit.

About the Artwork:

The painting is culled from a digitally altered picture that Banksy put on his website BEFORE he dismantled Dismaland that he said he was going to use the wood for housing for the Calais refugees in the Jungle Camp (which I did make another painting of) Theres a Robbo Tag on the castle, an artist who had a tagging war with Banksy. There's also a couple Banksy Minnie Mouses screwing and a boat full of refugee rats in the pond Out front. Above the Castle door instead of a D emblem, there is a B No, I did not get permission from Banksy to use this image, and in fact, I got a call from London to quit using his stuff ( like a little known high school art teacher/ artist is a threat to the Banksy Empire. Im always wondering who will sue me first, The millionaire Banksy or the Billionaire Disney Corporation. - Jeff Gillette

ARTIST STATEMENT

"I am from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. In the late 1980s I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal for two years. During this two-year stint, I visited every major city in India, finding myself exploring the huge slums found there. On my return to home, I moved from the Mid-West to escape the snow to teach High School Art in Orange County, California. Since finishing my MFA at Cal State Fullerton, I have been exhibiting in galleries both at home and abroad.

My work is most often landscapes. A major portion of my output is paintings of slums of the developing world, where I often add an element of western cultural privilege (and oblivion) into settings of urban blight. Inspiration for what I call 'Slumscapes' comes from first-hand experience travelling. Most often I return over and over to my favorite destination: India. In the vast poverty-stricken fringes of its vast megalopolises I trip out on how the economic disparities are obscenely extreme. Ive been spending a lot of time in Mumbai slums: photographing, filming, creating Plein Aire paintings and creating interactive street art.

Besides depicting slums, my artwork portrays post-apocalyptic debris fields, landfills, and detritus-cluttered deserts. The Juxtaposition of Disney themes and beloved characters (i.e.: Mickey Mouse) with all these dystopias best conveys my personal views. Pondering contemporary social, political, economical and philosophical conundrums, I cant help but feel absurdly helpless, pessimistic and humored about the future of Western Civilization.