In the world of Philadelphia muralist and painter Gabriel Tiberino, life, love, politics, family and Black consciousness have inspired his exceptional collection of work.
Whether it is on the walls that his mural works grace, the canvases he inhabits publicly and privately, or the many commissions he has earned, Tiberino paints with great dense brushstrokes and classicist inspirations. Close-up black and white sketches of author-rapper Black Thought stand next to a boldly colorful Mantua section mural of Philadelphia 76er legend Wally Jones at 37th Street and Haverford Avenue. The children that lace the wraparound mural at Southwest Philadelphia’s Christy Rec Center, at 56th and Christian streets, come face-to-face with oversized wall-sized paintings of his son, Asa, not long after he was born.
As part of the Tiberino family dynasty whose works fill The African History Museum and the Mainline Art Center, as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and beyond, Tiberino is yet another extraordinary piece in an intricate puzzle.
“I’m pretty good at bringing people’s vision to life,” he says of his multitude of commissions. “If someone can tell me something about what they want, or what they’re feeling, I think that I am pretty gifted at being able to bring those ideas about.”
Tiberino started exhibiting his work at the urging of his father at the age of 8. “Art, socially conscious art that is positive, is in my blood,” he says.
And now, with the currently-open G-Tiberino Studios at the Tiberino Museum family compound at 38th and Hamilton streets, the artist is looking to strike out on his own just a little bit further, while still holding onto the fabric of his family’s fame.
“People in Philadelphia see my stuff and know my work in Philadelphia, and that is great. I’m just looking to push a little harder and stretch a little farther when it comes to getting known to the rest of the world.”
To that end, G-Tiberino Studios located within the confines of West Philly’s Tiberino Museum — short for The Ellen Powell Tiberino Memorial Museum of Contemporary Art, named for the family’s late matriarch — has as its backdrop, the wealth of his father’s life-sized murals alongside siblings Raphael Tiberino’s dark post-superhero sketches and Ellen Tiberino’s ceramics and sculptures as part of its permanent collection.
“I live and work out of the museum compound, holding the grounds together, and I have so much work of my own that is new and not-so-new that the world hasn’t seen,” Tiberino says. “I have prints of some of my paintings and mural for sale, and I just started to put my paintings onto shirts and just started experimenting with that.”
Along with being able to purchase pieces of Gabe Tiberino to bring home and wear out, the portraitist and muralist will offer tours of his studio space to see beyond the process of some of his city-scaled, larger civically-driven murals.
“Many of the murals that we do are created on parachute cloth, then get installed onto walls and into their spaces. I’ll be able to show you the progress of what and how we did, and do, all that.”
As Gabriel Tiberino continues to follow the family’s heritage with new portraits, murals and G-Tiberino Studios, what is in store for his extended family? “Having a son changes your whole life,” he says of his two-year-old. “He’s definitely going to learn to do art no matter what else he does and chooses to do. I’m trying to get him into art now.”
G-Tiberino Studios at 3819 Hamilton Street is open now. A live, official opening party will be held on Oct. 19 from 3 to 6 p.m. For information and tickets, visit gtiberinostudios.com
