On November 5th, Hatched In Prison will open at Ricco/Maresca in New York, a testament to the long road Gil Batle has traveled and where art has taken him. Born and raised in San Francisco to Filipino parents, he has been in and out of five California prisons for eight years over a twenty year period. While incarcerated, the self-taught artist’s drawing ability and eventual tattooing skills shielded him from the murderous gang violence that ran rampant behind bars. Now living on a small island in the Philippines, Batle has been detailing subjects and scenes from his time in jail on fragile ostrich eggs, sort of like relief carvings of terrifying events and situations that most of us never experience.
Via Hi-Fructose.
