Janna Watson | Light is Heavy
Janna Watson | Light is Heavy
January 13-27, 2018
3045 Granville St, Vancouver
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 13, 2:00 - 4:00pm
Light is Heavy presents a diverse body of work from contemporary abstract painter Janna Watson—a visually poetic culmination of her practice to date. In this suite of paintings the artist explores the paradoxical weight of light and lightness through the reactive materiality of mixed media.
Evident in these latest works is the maturation of Watson's artistic process, as her panels reveal renewed confidence and technical mastery of her distinct painterly language. Watson’s works are endlessly evocative of organic forms, populated by familiar figures and rife with art historical reference— at once inviting subjective meaning whilst resisting easy interpretation and the stasis of representation.
Watson's coalescing forms are suspended mid-motion and contain within them an expressive cacophony: marbled, multi-hued brushstrokes are juxtaposed against bold, gestural streaks to maintain precarious equilibrium. Stark ink lines inscribe the pictorial plane of Watson’s panels—disturbing profusions of calligraphic strokes and contrasted with sporadic rushes of pure colour. All punctuated by decisive pastel markings and unfolding on a gradient and richly hued surface, oft delineated by the dynamic introduction of a horizon line. Each piece is a deeply nuanced and profoundly personal undertaking, composed of singular moments of paint and informed by a great depth of feeling, manifested in the application of each individual element.