Gale Antokal’s drawings are mostly made with mixtures of pure white chalk, graphite, flour, and ash applied with an index finger. In her personal iconography, ash is the finite end of all material, and flour is the sustenance of life. These light and dry dusts can be easily dispersed by the slightest movement of air. The vulnerability of materials serves as a metaphor for a human condition that has potential of being erased in a brief historic moment.
Antokal was born in New York, New York, and received her BFA (1980) and MFA from the California College of the Arts in 1984. She is a Professor at San Jose State University in the Department of Art and Art History and Coordinator in the Pictorial area. Antokal held several visiting artist positions and teaching positions including the San Francisco Art Institute, Instructor of Art History at the Lehrhaus Institute, and the American College in Jerusalem. She was an affiliate faculty member in the JSSItaly program in Civita Castellana, Italy in 2015. In 1992 Antokal received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work is included in public, private and international collections.
