About

Gabrielle Mahdesian was born in 1992 in Los Angeles. She lived in Maryland outside Washington DC for 17 years before moving back to Los Angeles to study Fine Arts and Art History at the University of Southern California. She now lives and studies in London.

Taught to share memories from an early age, Gabrielle began regularly photographing her experiences. She uses her photographs to translate her memories of people and places into paintings using oil, acrylic, and watercolor. Through her work and reflection, she combines her own style with a nostalgic tribute to her favorite landscape artists from the 19th century.

Gabrielle's experiences with new cultures, architecture, and nature bring a fresh perspective to her artwork. From studying and drawing in Florence, Italy over the summer of 2009 to living in Australia during the year of 2013, she connects her art to her personal adventures across the globe. She has most recently been experimenting with watercolor techniques while continuing her work with oil and acrylic.

In her second year at USC, Gabrielle exhibited at the Roski School of Fine Art Annual Undergraduate Exhibition where she earned the Crotty Family Scholarship for Academic Excellence as an Art Major. During her year abroad in Australia, she also participated in the John’s XXIII College Art Shield. There, she was selected to move forward with two other John’s students to exhibit at the ANU Interhall Art Shield, where she and John’s College won first place. During her final year at USC, she participated in a group show at the USC Lindhurst Gallery for her Senior Exhibition, and one of her pieces was chosen to hang in the undergraduate show at the Fisher Museum. She also painted, produced, and distributed watercolor calendars of her travels each year since 2014. These calendars inspired a commission for the American Ambassador to Germany; he and his wife hired Gabrielle to travel through Berlin and capture some of their favorite parts of the city in order to create their official watercolor calendar for 2017.

Gabrielle is currently working towards her Masters Degree in Art History and Visual Culture at Richmond the American International University in London.