Gil Batle: Re-Formed

Ricco/Maresca Gallery
Jan 12, 2018 7:01PM

​Gil Batle's ostrich egg, bas-relief carvings are striking visual chronicles ​of the American penal system from the inmate's perspective. The artist's new surreal, hyper-detailed playing card drawings open up new ​territory in an already remarkable body of work.

In the artist's words...

PAROLE.

"​This egg shows the two worlds that a parolee or a repeated felon has to face.  It’s  an insane routine, common with many convicted felons. Being free can be just as dangerous as being locked up.  As for me, being free meant committing crimes to feed my addiction, pay rent and eat.  After my divorce,  my social circle between incarcerations was a dark and criminal one.  I’ve been robbed by my own drug dealer, out of dope and going through withdrawals, sometimes sleeping in the streets and struggling to get cleaned up to commit more crimes. It was only a matter of time before I was back in prison where I had to survive, rest, heal and wait for my release date… just to do it all over again."​

Parole

2016

Carved Ostrich Egg Shell

6.5 x 5 x 5 in.

AMBUSH​.​

​"​Because most of the employees in prison are inmates, the word gets out very quickly when a snitch has arrived in the prison. .  Snitches don’t last very long in prison.  In the main panel of this egg is one of the many coordinated ambushes I saw during my incarceration.  This one took place in the chow hall of Jamestown State Prison. The guards never saw it happen. When the chow hall cleared, there was the snitch all alone, lying face down in his food tray.. dead.  They never found the culprits. Another image on this carving is an inmate “pointing out” something to a prison guard… a gesture that will get you “touched up” (beaten) by inmates… of any race.​"

Ambush

2016

Carved Ostrich Egg Shell

6.5 x 5 x 5 in.


PLAYING CARDS

"During 'lockdown,' all movement in the prison ceases, commissary privileges are frozen, and we are all cell-fed (no chow hall; food is brought to our cells). This could last anywhere between a week and up to three months or more. I've been on two three-month lockdowns. Being in a cell for that long without any means of recreation could drive a man insane. To pass the time, some inmates made their own chess or checker sets by sculpting the pieces with wet toilet paper and then letting them dry. Dice were made this way also. Some made darts with wet balls of toilet paper and then used the mirror as a target. They exercised, wrote letters, jacked off, tattooed or drew... Anything to keep their sanity. I, as others did, made playing cards.There are two types of card decks made in prison. One is a standard deck and is actually used for playing card games. The other is called 'kite deck.' A kite deck is usually played between groups of inmates (from the same gang) that need to send a message through the prison walls without detection. For example: if you are dealt five to eight cards, those cards communicate instructions or individual assignments and are then passed along to another inmate. Nobody knows the meanings of the images on the cards except for the gang that made them... You really don’t want to get caught trying to decipher a card from a 'kite deck' belonging to another gang.The cards made recently are more detailed and elaborate than the ones I made in prison. They are a journal of the inmates I've known or met, drawn with images that “may” carry meanings in them."

-Gil Batle

Playing Cards, 2017. Graphite on card stock. 3.5" x 2.5"

© Ricco/Maresca Gallery

Ricco/Maresca Gallery