DANIEL GIORDANO
GOTH GIRLS GET GAS TOO
OCTOBER 2024
Fish Island Gallery presents Goth Girls Get Gas Too, an installation of four sculptures by Daniel Giordano.
Daniel's My Goumad for Good I and A Flying Rat’s Ass I - III make up the exhibition. He works in serial veins of production. Each vein is governed by certain themes, material make up, form, and scale, often inspired by an embellished personal mythology, his family's garment manufacturing roots in his post-industrial hometown of Newburgh, NY, his second-generation Italian-American heritage, and America the beautiful.
Giordano's My Goumad for Good sculptures consist of boulders that Giordano partially deep-fry batters and applies various surface treatments, ranging from wax and Dior lipstick to charred cling wrap and ornamentation of ceramic along with other organic and synthetic matter. The word ‘Goumad’ is Italian-American slang for a “close friend” or mistress. Daniel cheekily refers to his significant other as his “goumad for good.” The My Goumad for Good sculptures are typically installed on the floor with the hopes of tripping the viewer.
The A Flying Rat's Ass vein of work consists of ceramic components that resemble oversized water caltrops, also known as devil’s heads. These aquatic seed pods are ubiquitous along the Hudson River shoreline. Additional components are epoxied into the orifice of the ceramic vessel to serve as the tail. These include forged and twisted Amish horseshoes, rat tails, and a bright green lucky rabbit’s foot. He also incorporates genuine water caltrops coated in nail polish and sprinkled with a finely minced lock of his own hair. Growing up, Giordano’s mother would often exclaim “I don't give a flying rat's ass!”
The title Goth Girls Get Gas Too was inspired by Giordano's repeated sightings of goth ladies pumping gas into their motor vehicles at the Sunoco Gas Station on the corner of North Plank Road and Gidney Avenue in the town of Newburgh, NY.
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Daniel Giordano (b. 1988, Poughkeepsie, NY) is an artist based in Newburgh, NY. Giordano earned his MFA from the University of Delaware in 2016. He participated in the Core Residency at Millay Arts in July 2024, the AIM Fellowship at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 2021, and the EmergeNYC fellowship at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics in 2015. His recent solo exhibitions include The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY (2024); MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA (2023); Turley Gallery, Hudson, NY (2023); JDJ, New York, NY (2023), among others. His work has recently been included in group exhibitions at High Noon, New York, NY (2024); Grimm, New York, NY (2024); The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Bronx, NY (2024); Helena Anrather, New York, NY (2023), among others. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, Sculpture Magazine, Cultured Magazine, Upstate Diary, among others.
Instagram: @danieljgiordano
TikTok: @danieljgiordano
