Gina Higgins | Noir artist

Born in New Orleans, the granddaughter of the founder of Delta Airlines, Gina Higgins was raised in the Hollywood Hills of LA. Accepted into the University of Southern California Roski School of Fine Arts at 17, she also received formal training in figurative painting in Paris and Florence, before returning to complete her BFA.

Gina's illustrative clients include Liz Claiborne, Etienne Eigner, Alexander McQueen, CBS Studios, and AandM/Polygram records. Gina has also emerged as a highly desirable figurative painter, specializing in contemporary film noir. Her works have exhibited in galleries across the west coast and are included in numerous celebrity and corporate collections.

Gina has exhibited with the following artists: Fabian Perez, Thomas Arvid, Manuel Nunez, Michael Cheval, Michael Parkes, Todd White, Jaline Pol, Sabzi, Carrie Graber, Rob Hefferan, Michael Goddard, Svetlana Valueva, and Pino.

For a viewer to apply their own interpretation to my work, apart from what I claim as my source of inspiration, is for me the highest compliment.

Beautiful, narcissistic, reckless and seductive, the men and women portrayed in the aesthetic of film noir are all of these things. As an artist, the genre attracts me like a magnet. It sparks my imagination and remains an electrifying source of creative inspiration.

From films like “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, “Metropolis” and “The Stranger”, to the iconic work of Hitchcock and Truffaut, to the brilliant neo-noir films of David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch, the art of noir has been an underlying theme in my work since I first began painting.

Often inspiration from a film and its title will work in tandem, as in the case of my painting, “Breathless” influenced by Jean-Luc Godard’s film À bout de souffle”. The sense of urgency, impetuousness, and being out of one’s element is my favorite state of mind when creating and the reason I work in the precarious medium of acrylics.

I liken my paintings to moments rather than stories, as they are impulsive and I use the canvas as my sketchpad. With my American-Noir paintings I attempt to intertwine the dramatic visual elements with the strikingly compelling story lines of film noir, infusing just enough mystery in the hope that the observer will be pulled into the painting. Above all I seek to create a depth of feeling that connects on a subconscious level.

Gina Higgins: - "American Noir is my modern interpretation of the movie genre of the 40s and 50s.

I’m incorporating the aesthetic aspects of film noir and making them current. When most people hear the term “film noir” they think of retro black and white melodramas, low-key lighting, crime dramas and such; but actually film noir’s influence has never really left.

Directors like David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, and Jim Jarmusch were obviously influenced by film noir. To me, it’s an intoxicating art form, not only visually, in terms of the lighting and camera angles, but also the archetypal characters and moral dilemmas in these movies leave a powerful impact on the viewer.

American Noir is my personal representation of some of these elements that have touched me as an artist".