En Plein Air with Ochres,
Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia 2024
Hammer Tribe Ethiopia 2004
Photo by Stuart Macleod, National Geographic Field Producer 2004
Gabrielle Pool has been producing painting and mixed media works since 1993, and has held over 30 solo and group exhibitions within Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, U.S.A, The United Kingdom, Greece and the Bahamas.
Partly schooled in Japan, Gabrielle’s early inspiration from her teacher, Mori Sensei led to a powerful oriental influence, with her first solo exhibition in Chiba-Ken at the age of 16.
She has been a finalist in the Sulman Prize AGNSW, the Mosman Prize and twice in the Paddington Art Prize. Her work is included in leading international private and corporate collections.
I
n 2004 Gabrielle began to record several of the world's vanishing tribes - the Hamer Tribe in Ethiopia, the Maasai of Kenya, and in 2010, the Indigenous women artists of Utopia in Australia's Northern Territory. Gabrielle has immersed herself in tribal life, often using sacred body paint pigments within her work. "My painting has always been driven by a desire to preserve and record the history of ancient people and their environments, in a world that seems to be trying its very best to eradicate them and 'civilize' them."
In 2005 Gabrielle was invited by Nelson Mandela to travel to Africa to collaborate in the production of the Unity Series, alongside 20 other leading international artists. The works depicted the five phases of Mandela's life, culminating in his vision for the future, and were launched at the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland in the same year.
Gabrielle’s concerns have included imaging expeditions to Amman Jordan, Budapest Hungary, and the exquisite country around Nana Glen and Myocum, Northern NSW. Her practice has long been enriched by her itinerant existence, and thus she set out on a painting journey around Australia in 2024, working en plein air in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges and Hanging Rock, and imaging the starkly beautiful Flinders Ranges of South Australia.
Gabrielle was the subject of an hour-long TVNZ documentary in 2007, while National Geographic Australia posted a feature article about her challenging views as an explorer.She is represented by Brenda Colahan Fine Art, Sydney; Thom Gallery, Byron Bay, NSW; Capital Culture, UK and online through Peek Gallery.