OUR MISSION
Invisible Republic is a national nonprofit arts organization dedicated to strengthening arts education and visual literacy through book publications and exhibitions, using a mix of print and digital media to help bring underrepresented voices to the fore.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Greil Marcus’s first major work was originally called Invisible Republic, a metaphor he used to describe Bob Dylan after his Don’t Look Back tour, when he left Greenwich Village and moved to Woodstock, New York, to get away from the pop star hoopla and “voice of a generation” banter he was saddled with. He ended up collaborating with The Band in his basement on the now-legendary “Basement Tapes.” One of the first serious studies of Dylan as an artist, the book was eventually reissued with the current, more apt title, The Old Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes but Invisible Republic lives on in our new nonprofit arts organization.
STAFF
FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR
J.C. Gabel began his career in publishing at the age of 19. In the mid-’90s, he handmade the first issue of Stop Smiling,“The Magazine for High-Minded Lowlifes” and developed it into a full-color glossy featuring timeless themes, original stories, and interviews you couldn’t read anywhere else. It grew for 15 years before transitioning into books.
In 2012, Gabel moved from Chicago to Los Angeles to work on two large book projects for Chronicle and Taschen. A couple of years later, Pitchfork commissioned him to create The Pitchfork Review, a print quarterly. The following year, he founded Hat & Beard Press with the intention of finding a more artist-friendly way of producing and selling books in the 21st Century.
Previously, Gabel was a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Bookforum, The Paris Review, LA Times, New York Times, and Wallpaper.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Patricia Vernhes is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural leader with over two decades of experience developing transformative programs, exhibitions, and partnerships across music, film, and the visual arts.
Born in Poland, she moved to London as a teenager, where she studied contemporary music, worked as a solo artist, formed multiple bands, and collaborated on more than twenty film soundtracks. Since relocating to Joshua Tree in 2012, her practice has evolved into an ongoing dialogue between environment and memory—expressed through composition, painting, sculpture, film, and series of salvage work. She is also a sound practitioner trained exclusively at The Integratron.
In 2024, Vernhes founded the Hi-Desert Film Institute, a curated screening and discourse program dedicated to the study of cinema within the desert, positioning landscape as both context and conduit for a growing community of filmmakers.
Her work is grounded in the belief that cultural programs function as ecosystems—living environments that connect artists and audiences, while balancing tradition with experimentation. With a trajectory spanning Warsaw, London, New York, Paris and Joshua Tree, Vernhes integrates artistic practice with curatorial and strategic leadership to shape initiatives that are both globally engaged and locally resonant.
As of January 2026, Vernhes is stepping into the role of the Executive Director at Invisible Republic:
“While we take our first steps of reviving The Big Table podcasts and expanding into film and music programming, our long-term mission is to build a globally relevant hub for underrepresented artists and genres through publications, curatorial preservation and dynamic partnerships with likeminded institutions and communities around the world“.
FOUNDING BOARD OF DIRECTORS
LOS ANGELES
Hamza Walker
Director of nonprofit arts organization LAXART, former curator at The Renaissance Society, professor at SAIC, curator and art historian.
Liza Dodson
Twenty-five years Film & Television Production experience at Warner Bros Studios.
Operations Manager for Warner Media Film Group. Southern Culture Documentarian.
Visual artist, composer, bassist (Dengue Fever, The Ecstasy of Gold, Radar Bros.), author, poet.
CHICAGO
Damon Locks
Fine artist, musician, band leader, graphic novelist, poet.
Fred Sasaki
Art Director at Poetry Magazine, writer, editor, curator.
NEW YORK
Lawrence Lui
Electronic musician, music executive, founder of Bampire Music, Recording Academy Governor, former Sr. Marketing Director at Island & Capitol Records.