Rosie Gibbens

Rosie Gibbens is a London-based interdisciplinary artist. Through her work, she magnifies elements of contemporary life which seem absurd to her, looking at the world as though she were an alien visitor, attempting but not quite managing to conform. Her observations focus primarily on gender performativity, sexual politics, consumerist culture, and their overlaps. This repeatedly manifests through the misuse of objects and garments in performances and videos, which are often re-purposed for “chain reactions” to achieve simple tasks in overly complicated ways. Rosie engages with the way that (young, cis) female bodies are often used as a landscape on which desire for commodities are constructed, approaching her work as perverse product demonstrations or adverts — taking the term “sex sells” too literally. She also often makes soft-sculptures that double-up as performance props or puppets. Many of these are enlarged fabric versions of body-parts that help Rosie extend her extremities and scramble her anatomy.

Rosie graduated with an MA in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art (2018) and a BA in Performance Design and Practice at Central Saint Martins (2015). Her recent video project 'The New Me' was presented by Daata at Expo Chicago (2022) and in July 2021 she had her first major solo show 'Soft Girls' at the Zabludowicz Collection in London. Selected group exhibitions include: Girl Meets Girl, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway (2022); The Artist is Online, König Gallery, Berlin (2021); Balls, Oof Gallery, London (2021); Ridiculous, Elephant West, London (2020).