PATRICK MIKHAIL MONTREAL PRESENTS “JANUARY” AN EXHIBITION OF NEW PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO WORKS BY MONTRÉAL ARTIST JESSICA AUER
JESSICA AUER
JANUARY
MONTRÉAL
JANUARY 6 TO FEBRUARY 20, 2015
ARTIST RECEPTION:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2015
2 P.M. TO 5 P.M.
PATRICK MIKHAIL GALLERY in Montréal is pleased to present JANUARY a site-specific installation of new works by photo-based artist JESSICA AUER. The presentation is Auer’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.
Created during a 2015 residency in Seydisfjördur, Iceland, JANUARY presents a collection of photography and video works by the Montreal artist. Breaking from her customarily formulated, research-based approach, Auer centred her residency on the process of walking, wandering daily along the frontiers of a mid-winter landscape within the limits of short daylight hours.
Of her first morning in Iceland, the artist related: “I alternated between each of the seven windows of my studio apartment, craning my neck to look up the valley, down the fjord, up the mountain slopes, and around all the other houses. It was 10 a.m. and the morning light maintained a dark deep blue. As the day carried on, the sun never broke the mountains, but circled around the peaks – gracing only the tops of the opposing ridges with direct light. I was told that the sun would only find the town again in February.”
Recalling light and darkness as the fundamental basis of photography, Auer extends her photographic process and personal experience of landscape to convey—both inwardly and outwardly—a time and place of transition. As an exhibition, JANUARY carries the artist’s experience of light into space, alluding to the possibility of a metaphysical journey.
Jessica Auer’s work is broadly concerned with the study of cultural sites, focusing on themes that connect history, place, journey, and personal experience. She received her MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University in 2007 and has since participated in numerous international residency programs including: the Leighton Artist’s Colony at The Banff Centre in Alberta; the Brucebo travel residency based in Gotland, Sweden; The Chilkoot Trail AIR in Alaska/Yukon; and the Skaftfell Centre for Visual Art in Seydisfjördur, Iceland. Selected exhibitions include: Oslo8, Basel, Switzerland 2015; The Gotland Museum of Art, Visby, Sweden 2015; Sporobole centre en art actuel, Sherbrooke, 2014; VU Photo, Quebec City, 2014; The Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal 2013; Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Ottawa, 2012; and Newspace Centre for Photography, Portland, Oregon 2011. Auer’s work can be found in numerous private and institutional collections including The Canada Council Art Bank and the Musée des Beaux Arts du Québec. She currently teaches photography at Concordia University in Montréal.
The artist wishes to thank SODEC for their contribution towards the production of the artworks.