Interview with Beau Gabriel

What do you usually have for breakfast?

Espresso with milk, and usually not much else.

What’s your favourite colour and why?

A color called stil de grain, which is a very old pigment, not much in use since the 18th century. It’s a transparent yellow, full of grit and warmth and personality. And it’s made from buckthorn berries! The paint is notoriously fugitive, meaning it fades quickly with time, but its transience only adds to its beauty.

How do you approach the storytelling aspect of your visual narratives?

My most recent series of paintings tells a single, continous story. It takes place in a vision of Maine, a place closely associated with my childhood, which I’ve conjured from equal parts memory and fantasy. It’s an allegory of sorts for my own experience of joy, depression, and love.

There were two works in particular that helped me shape my narrative: Averno, by the late American poet Louise Glück, and Orfeo, a very early opera by Claudio Monteverdi.