Nikita Gale

Riff Fatigue approaches the electric guitar and its role in the history of rock music as the point of departure for a meditation on histories of protest. By using the materials associated with the creation and production of sound (XLR cable, conductive copper tape, guitar strings) in tandem with materials used in the abatement of sound and protection of electronic equipment (second hand bath towels, sculpted ethafoam, upholstery foam, ear plugs), Nikita Gale employs a production strategy in which both the material and ideological characteristics of the electric guitar are engaged as the framework and language used throughout the exhibition. The artist draws on primary themes of touch and amplification of bodily gesture while the resulting compositions take on an attitude located somewhere between protest and resignation -- there is a desire to take action but to also feel safe, to make noise but to also find the quiet spots, to protest but to also be protected from vibrations and frequencies that exceed the capacity of the body to safely experience without harm.

Certain work titles like Rocket 88 and Maybelline allude to early historical debates about the identity of first real rock and roll song while other works like Bad refer more directly to the the translation of physical guitar strings from frequencies to musical notation denoted by letters. The show title itself is a nod to the relationship between repetition or “riffing” (of political movements, violence, social conditions, oppression, and so on) and the ensuing physical and emotional exhaustion that it produces.

Nikita Gale is an artist living and working in Los Angeles, CA. She has a BA in Anthropology from Yale University and completed an MFA in New Genres from UCLA in 2016. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US and internationally in London and Paris. Gale's work has been featured and reviewed in various publications including Artforum, Art Papers, Art21 Magazine, and The New York Times. In 2016, she was awarded UCLA's Toby Devan Lewis Award, and in 2017, she was a recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant. Her work is currently on view at The Studio Museum in Harlem's latest group exhibition Fictions through January 7th, 2018.