M+B is proud to present Iterations (II), an exhibition of new color photographs by JessicaEaton, the artist’s third show at the gallery. These new works are Eaton’s most ambitious and technically elaborate to date and are the result of over two years of intensive studio process and experimentation. Jessica Eaton: Iterations (II) runs from January 12 through February 9, 2019, with an opening reception on Saturday, January 12 from 6 to 8 pm.
Eaton’s artistic output is grounded in a longstanding interest in color theory and in manipulating color in analog photographs in order to challenge perception itself. The images in the exhibition are serial variations that refine the artist’s earlier explorations on the science of color. They are a product of the camera’s visual system rather than human vision—completely photographic, yet unable to be seen by the naked eye. It is a systematic inquiry into color, with each final photograph an iteration based on a sequence of operations that narrow toward the desired result.
Each picture is made by layering dozens of exposures onto a sheet of 4 x 5 film. Using a set of geometric forms painted in various tonal grays, Eaton nests the objects and then removes or substitutes them in between exposures. She achieves the chromatic variations by applying mathematical equations based on additive color theory, meticulously building up hues in camera with RGB filters. The final images are expansive and optically vibrant, while still revealing traces of their physical making in the slightly blurred edges and textured surfaces of the objects.
Jessica Eaton (b. 1977, Regina, Saskatchewan) received her BFA from the Emily Carr University in Vancouver. Solo exhibitions include Wild Permutationsat the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland; Flash: Jessica Eaton at the California Museum of Photography, Riverside; and Ad Infinitum, The Photographers’ Gallery, London. Eaton was selected for the 2017 iteration of the Canadian Biennial, and her work was exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada. Eaton has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Under Construction – New Positions in American Photography, Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam; Process and Abstraction at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Transformer Station; Color Acting: Abstraction Since 1950 at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL; Québec Triennialat the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal; Photography is Magic, Daegu Photography Biennale; and Phantasmagoria at Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver. Eaton was nominated for the prestigious Sobey Art Award in 2016. Notable press includes The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, ARTnews (cover) and The Guardian. Her work can be found in the public collections of the National Gallery of Canada and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montreal, among others. Jessica Eaton lives and works in Montreal.
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