Gabriel Paolieri

Gabriel Paolieri is a contemporary American artist and sculptor best known for his 3 dimensional work in papier-mâché and for the wide variety of styles and characters embodied in his work.
Born in New Jersey, the son of Italian immigrants, Gabriel demonstrated uncanny artistic talent in his early years, drawing and painting in a realistic manner through his childhood and adolescence.
Gabriel attended William Paterson College (Wayne, N.J.) and majored in art. Upon graduation he worked in graphic design and commercial art illustration and soon after moved to California.
The 1980’s were a very productive decade for Gabriel, creating works of art for Amici International, Aires Inc, Limelight Silkscreening, and The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society among others.
By the mid 1990’s Gabriel tired of the commercial art routine and began to experiment with papier-mâché sculpting. These early works immediately caught the attention of the fine art community in Sacramento and he was soon represented by the nationally recognized Solomon Dubnick Gallery (1995-2005). 
His early pieces evolved from exciting life-size contemporary mummy cases to smaller whimsical and interpretive sculptures depicting a myriad of diverse figures incorporating vibrant character, hues and forms.
Some of his work includes assemblages---the artistic process in which a three-dimensional composition is made from putting together found objects.
A number of his sculptures have received local and state awards and he has lectured on the topic of papier-mâché art and has taught the fundamentals of paper art at the Crocker Art Museum.