Glitchener, Glitercherloo, and Camglitch

Through his experimental photogrammetry process to capture images of publicly-accessible sites throughout Waterloo Region, Gabriel developed a digital landscape from which to isolate abstracted and distorted images depicting glitched local scenery and spontaneously-generated pareidolia characters. 

Gabriel's lens-based practice is the method through which he connected to Waterloo Region in developing Glitchener, Glitcherloo, and Camglitch, with the intention to "... create large-scale printing installations, with abstracted digital images that could occupy the commercial advertising spaces in the public realm and act as portals to spaces of contemplation existing beyond the image plane. People interact with printed media in public when they see billboards, business signage, and window vinyls; as well as public transportation infrastructure such as bus-stop benches, shelters, and on buses and trains. Because of this constant bombardment of advertising in the public realm, I want to co-opt these spaces and materials such as transparent vinyls, billboards, and bus stop ads, to display images evoking the experience of observing the patterns of nature. Seeing esoteric abstract art in public with no context or message that tells anyone what they are or what they mean will invite the viewer to contemplate the work without pressure. The distorted forms, landscapes, and patterns these images depict will expose the viewer to the mysteries of nature and hopefully make them question the artificial world that we have built to keep nature at a distance." 

My name is Gabriel Esteban Molina and I’m a visual artist based in Edmonton, Alberta, also known as amiskwacîwâskahikan. I am a first-generation Canadian of Chilean descent, having spent my early years between Edmonton where I was born and raised, and Quilpué, Chile from where my family hails. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Alberta in 2013 and a Masters of Art in Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Arts in London, England in 2015. I’ve had various group and solo exhibitions throughout Edmonton, as well as Alberta, London, Italy, Iceland, and online. I’ve participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and ArtsIceland in the Westfjords of Iceland. In 2022, my project Memory Palace premiered as a solo exhibition at Latitude 53 in Edmonton, and it will be exhibited at Yamamoto Keiko Rochaix in London in 2024.