Jessica Houston Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
Drawing upon early Modernism’s formal and metaphysical concerns, my site-specific works explore the physical and immaterial nature of perception. I create situations that use the phenomena of color, light, and sound to directly engage the viewer. The installations cast elements of painting beyond the plane into a three-dimensional realm and visitors cannot help but walking into the work. The beholder’s awareness is fully embodied; one becomes more than a pair of eyes and a mind.
In Full Spectrum, my latest installation in Montréal, I adhered colored gels to the windows of an empty white room to illuminate how color and light complete each other. As the sun traversed the sky, shining through the windows, squares of color were projected into the room, creating geometric shapes that transformed in real time. The work had no physical object to sustain its effect, only shifting color shapes that changed dimension as the natural light moved them across the walls and floor. The piece deployed time as a medium, never staying in exactly the same place, and without the possibility of reiteration.
Two other recent projects are experiments with color, form, and perception. In the small, southern Italian town of Corigliano, Puglia, I interviewed people about their relationship to color. The descriptions of their favorite colors-the blue of a son’s eyes; the pale pink of a cloud; a bright, traffic-light green - served as points of reference for the colors I placed in windows, doors, and niches throughout the Castello di Corigliano. I used pure pigments painted on Pietra Leccese, a natural stone from the area, as I attempted the impossible task of mixing exactly what was described. In the courtyard, pairs of stones faced each other; the painted stone reflected its color onto the natural stone, revealing the dialectic between light and substance. This influence of color was only visible depending on the sunlight of the moment and the viewer’s position in relation to the stones.
The New Jersey MOCA installation, in the 1920s Asbury Park Convention Hall in New Jersey, continued this dialogue. I asked residents of Asbury Park to describe a color they felt intensely about. Based on these conversations, I tinted the windowpanes of the Convention Hall orange - the color that evoked the strongest response. By using colored gels within the grid format of the windowpanes, which both altered the view of the ocean beyond and cast reflections back into the exhibition hall, the work referenced the idea of painting as a window onto another world and as a subjective experience that reflects back to the viewer. The division of the picture plane was created by the composition of the orange gels, the sky, and the horizon of the ocean, which changed according to the viewer’s vantage point.
The recordings of people’s descriptions were amplified in a nearby stairwell. Here, the viewer was not looking at the color but listening to it, prompting an experience of imagining the color as opposed to seeing it in the physical world. The various interpretations revealed that one color lends itself to innumerable readings. While we all stand under (understand) a blue sky, the space between one person’s blue and another’s is full of reflection.
Drawing upon early Modernism’s formal and metaphysical concerns, my site-specific works explore the physical and immaterial nature of perception. I create situations that use the phenomena of color, light, and sound to directly engage the viewer. The installations cast elements of painting beyond the plane into a three-dimensional realm and visitors cannot help but walking into the work. The beholder’s awareness is fully embodied; one becomes more than a pair of eyes and a mind.
In Full Spectrum, my latest installation in Montréal, I adhered colored gels to the windows of an empty white room to illuminate how color and light complete each other. As the sun traversed the sky, shining through the windows, squares of color were projected into the room, creating geometric shapes that transformed in real time. The work had no physical object to sustain its effect, only shifting color shapes that changed dimension as the natural light moved them across the walls and floor. The piece deployed time as a medium, never staying in exactly the same place, and without the possibility of reiteration.
Two other recent projects are experiments with color, form, and perception. In the small, southern Italian town of Corigliano, Puglia, I interviewed people about their relationship to color. The descriptions of their favorite colors-the blue of a son’s eyes; the pale pink of a cloud; a bright, traffic-light green - served as points of reference for the colors I placed in windows, doors, and niches throughout the Castello di Corigliano. I used pure pigments painted on Pietra Leccese, a natural stone from the area, as I attempted the impossible task of mixing exactly what was described. In the courtyard, pairs of stones faced each other; the painted stone reflected its color onto the natural stone, revealing the dialectic between light and substance. This influence of color was only visible depending on the sunlight of the moment and the viewer’s position in relation to the stones.
The New Jersey MOCA installation, in the 1920s Asbury Park Convention Hall in New Jersey, continued this dialogue. I asked residents of Asbury Park to describe a color they felt intensely about. Based on these conversations, I tinted the windowpanes of the Convention Hall orange - the color that evoked the strongest response. By using colored gels within the grid format of the windowpanes, which both altered the view of the ocean beyond and cast reflections back into the exhibition hall, the work referenced the idea of painting as a window onto another world and as a subjective experience that reflects back to the viewer. The division of the picture plane was created by the composition of the orange gels, the sky, and the horizon of the ocean, which changed according to the viewer’s vantage point.
The recordings of people’s descriptions were amplified in a nearby stairwell. Here, the viewer was not looking at the color but listening to it, prompting an experience of imagining the color as opposed to seeing it in the physical world. The various interpretations revealed that one color lends itself to innumerable readings. While we all stand under (understand) a blue sky, the space between one person’s blue and another’s is full of reflection.
CV
EDUCATION
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY— MA in Art and Art Education, 1999
State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY—BA in Art and Spanish Literature, 1993
The Art Institute of Florence, Italy—Drawing, Painting, Sculpture & Art History, 1992-1995
Instituto Internacional, Madrid, Spain—Art History and Spanish Literature, 1992
SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS
2012
Breathing Portraits, Saratoga Arts Council, Saratoga, NY
2011
Full Spectrum, Atelier 7, Montréal, Canada
2010
I Colori di Corigliano, Castello di Corigliano, Corigliano, Italy
2010
The Place With No Dawn, Archivio Storico, Martignano, Italy
2010
Solarhringur, International Polar Year Conference, Oslo, Norway
2009
Turn it Over and It Is, Camac Center for Art, Science & Technology, Marnay-sur-Seine, France
2008
Artist aboard Cape Farewell expedition to the Arctic
2008
Weather Pages, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, New York, NY
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011
Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY
Wide Open, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY
The Chelsea Int’l Fine Art Competition, Agora Gallery, New York, NY
Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Serious Play, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2010
It’s All American, Inaugural Exhibition, NJ MOCA, Asbury Park, NJ
wALL, SRISA Gallery of Contemporary Art, Florence, Italy
Bagasbas Beach Int’l Eco-Arts Festival, Camarines Norte, Philippines
Illuminating the Science: Art and Climate Change, LDEO of Columbia University, New York, NY
42nd Annual Exhibition, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Art for Sustainability, Columbia University, New York, NY
Experimental Video, Experimental Popsicles, Fe Arts Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Women & Water Rights: Rivers of Regeneration, Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Cadavre Exquis, Les Carnets, Montréal, Canada
2009
360°, NES Gallery, Skagaströnd, Iceland
100 Days, 100 Voices, The British Institute & British Embassy, online debate
While We Were Away, Sragow Gallery, New York, NY
Monochrome, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice, Rosenclaire Workshop, 101 Grand, Williamsburg, NY
Contemporary Painters, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2008
Red Dot Art Fair, Carrie Haddad Gallery, South Beach, FL
Change, Viva Gallery, Sebastopol, CA
Mapping Reason, Viva Gallery, Sebastopol, CA
Now, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2007
Domestic Departures, Rosenclaire Collaboration, CAL State Fullerton University, Santa Ana, CA
Miami Red Dot, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Miami, FL
Black + White = Grey Matter, Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, New York, NY
Woodstock Biennial, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
This, Here, Today, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2003
scapes: A Binocular Experience, (curated by David Adamo) Berliner KunstProjekt, Berlin, Germany
Juried Spring Show, Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Jersey, Sure,” Artforum, October 30, 2010.
“NJ MOCA: Contemporary Art Meets the Jersey Shore,” W magazine, October 26, 2010.
“New Jersey Museum of Contemporary Art,” Wall Street Journal, October 24, 2010.
“Jessica Houston in the High Arctic,” CBC Nunavit Radio, May 28th, 2010.
Feder, Tamarah. “The Last Refuge for a Disappearing Icon of the North,” McGill Reporter, 2010.
Warranty in Zulu, Front and Back Painting Cover, Barrow Street Press, 2010.
Studio Visit magazine, 2010.
Monochrome Exhibition Catalogue, Manifest Gallery, 2009.
Studio Visit Magazine, 2009.
Cape Farewell Expedition Documentary, Big Heart Media, United Kingdom, 2008.
Jones, Amelia. Domestic Departures Catalogue, CAL State Fullerton UP, 2007.
Granger, Kelley. “The Message from the Jackal,” The Chronogram, August 2007.
“The AI Eye: Editors’ Picks of Art for Sale,” http://www.artinfo.com, July 10, 2006.
“Splish Splash,” New York Sun, June 6, 2006, p. 14.
Taplinger, Maurice. “Liquescence & Suspension in the Art of Jessica Houston,” Gallery & Studio,
February/March 2005, page 28.
Bethencourt, Carmen. “The Little Things,” NY Arts Magazine, February 2004.
“For Art’s Sake,” The New York Times, October 2, 2003, B6.
Connally, Siobhan. “Arte|Vita in Italy,” The Artful Mind, September 2001.
Birke, Judy. “Women Take On a Wider World,” New Haven Register, March 11, 1999, page D.
“National Juried Art Exhibition at Highland Cultural Center,” Highland Post, December 11, 1996.
AWARDS/RESIDENCIES
2010
MIRA International Residency for Artists, Martignano, Italy
2010
Painting Residency with Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky (Rosenclaire), Florence, Italy
2009
NES Residency in Skagaströnd, Iceland
2009
Camac Residency for Art, Science & Technology, Marnay-sur-Seine, France
2008
The Spiritual in Art Practice & Drawing Residencies with Rosenclaire, Florence, Italy
2007
Contemporary Issues & Art Practice Residency with Rosenclaire, Florence, Italy
2004
Byrdcliffe Artists’ Residency, Woodstock, NY
1997
Columbia University Scholarship, New York, NY
1995
Peggy Guggenheim Scholarship, Venice, Italy
1992
Artist Residency with Rosenclaire and William Kentridge, Tuscany, Italy
LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS
1997-present
Museum Lecturer, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2011
Invited Speaker, Polar Continental Shelf Project, Ontario, Canada
2011
Invited Lecturer, Teachers College, Columbia University,
New York, NY
2010
Invited Speaker, International Polar Year Conference, Oslo, Norway
2010
Invited Lecturer, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
2010
Visiting Artist, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada
2010
Visiting Artist, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Canada
2009
Visiting Artist, Tipping Point, New York, NY
2009
Invited Lecturer, Teachers College, Columbia University,
New York, NY
2008
Visiting Artist, Cape Farewell, Iceland, Greenland, Arctic Circle
2008
Visiting Artist, Washington University, Florence, Italy
2006-2007
Invited Speaker, The Art Institute of Florence, Florence, Italy
EDUCATION
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY— MA in Art and Art Education, 1999
State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY—BA in Art and Spanish Literature, 1993
The Art Institute of Florence, Italy—Drawing, Painting, Sculpture & Art History, 1992-1995
Instituto Internacional, Madrid, Spain—Art History and Spanish Literature, 1992
SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS
2012
Breathing Portraits, Saratoga Arts Council, Saratoga, NY
2011
Full Spectrum, Atelier 7, Montréal, Canada
2010
I Colori di Corigliano, Castello di Corigliano, Corigliano, Italy
2010
The Place With No Dawn, Archivio Storico, Martignano, Italy
2010
Solarhringur, International Polar Year Conference, Oslo, Norway
2009
Turn it Over and It Is, Camac Center for Art, Science & Technology, Marnay-sur-Seine, France
2008
Artist aboard Cape Farewell expedition to the Arctic
2008
Weather Pages, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, New York, NY
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011
Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY
Wide Open, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY
The Chelsea Int’l Fine Art Competition, Agora Gallery, New York, NY
Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Serious Play, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2010
It’s All American, Inaugural Exhibition, NJ MOCA, Asbury Park, NJ
wALL, SRISA Gallery of Contemporary Art, Florence, Italy
Bagasbas Beach Int’l Eco-Arts Festival, Camarines Norte, Philippines
Illuminating the Science: Art and Climate Change, LDEO of Columbia University, New York, NY
42nd Annual Exhibition, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Art for Sustainability, Columbia University, New York, NY
Experimental Video, Experimental Popsicles, Fe Arts Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Women & Water Rights: Rivers of Regeneration, Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Cadavre Exquis, Les Carnets, Montréal, Canada
2009
360°, NES Gallery, Skagaströnd, Iceland
100 Days, 100 Voices, The British Institute & British Embassy, online debate
While We Were Away, Sragow Gallery, New York, NY
Monochrome, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice, Rosenclaire Workshop, 101 Grand, Williamsburg, NY
Contemporary Painters, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2008
Red Dot Art Fair, Carrie Haddad Gallery, South Beach, FL
Change, Viva Gallery, Sebastopol, CA
Mapping Reason, Viva Gallery, Sebastopol, CA
Now, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2007
Domestic Departures, Rosenclaire Collaboration, CAL State Fullerton University, Santa Ana, CA
Miami Red Dot, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Miami, FL
Black + White = Grey Matter, Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, New York, NY
Woodstock Biennial, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
This, Here, Today, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2003
scapes: A Binocular Experience, (curated by David Adamo) Berliner KunstProjekt, Berlin, Germany
Juried Spring Show, Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Jersey, Sure,” Artforum, October 30, 2010.
“NJ MOCA: Contemporary Art Meets the Jersey Shore,” W magazine, October 26, 2010.
“New Jersey Museum of Contemporary Art,” Wall Street Journal, October 24, 2010.
“Jessica Houston in the High Arctic,” CBC Nunavit Radio, May 28th, 2010.
Feder, Tamarah. “The Last Refuge for a Disappearing Icon of the North,” McGill Reporter, 2010.
Warranty in Zulu, Front and Back Painting Cover, Barrow Street Press, 2010.
Studio Visit magazine, 2010.
Monochrome Exhibition Catalogue, Manifest Gallery, 2009.
Studio Visit Magazine, 2009.
Cape Farewell Expedition Documentary, Big Heart Media, United Kingdom, 2008.
Jones, Amelia. Domestic Departures Catalogue, CAL State Fullerton UP, 2007.
Granger, Kelley. “The Message from the Jackal,” The Chronogram, August 2007.
“The AI Eye: Editors’ Picks of Art for Sale,” http://www.artinfo.com, July 10, 2006.
“Splish Splash,” New York Sun, June 6, 2006, p. 14.
Taplinger, Maurice. “Liquescence & Suspension in the Art of Jessica Houston,” Gallery & Studio,
February/March 2005, page 28.
Bethencourt, Carmen. “The Little Things,” NY Arts Magazine, February 2004.
“For Art’s Sake,” The New York Times, October 2, 2003, B6.
Connally, Siobhan. “Arte|Vita in Italy,” The Artful Mind, September 2001.
Birke, Judy. “Women Take On a Wider World,” New Haven Register, March 11, 1999, page D.
“National Juried Art Exhibition at Highland Cultural Center,” Highland Post, December 11, 1996.
AWARDS/RESIDENCIES
2010
MIRA International Residency for Artists, Martignano, Italy
2010
Painting Residency with Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky (Rosenclaire), Florence, Italy
2009
NES Residency in Skagaströnd, Iceland
2009
Camac Residency for Art, Science & Technology, Marnay-sur-Seine, France
2008
The Spiritual in Art Practice & Drawing Residencies with Rosenclaire, Florence, Italy
2007
Contemporary Issues & Art Practice Residency with Rosenclaire, Florence, Italy
2004
Byrdcliffe Artists’ Residency, Woodstock, NY
1997
Columbia University Scholarship, New York, NY
1995
Peggy Guggenheim Scholarship, Venice, Italy
1992
Artist Residency with Rosenclaire and William Kentridge, Tuscany, Italy
LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS
1997-present
Museum Lecturer, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2011
Invited Speaker, Polar Continental Shelf Project, Ontario, Canada
2011
Invited Lecturer, Teachers College, Columbia University,
New York, NY
2010
Invited Speaker, International Polar Year Conference, Oslo, Norway
2010
Invited Lecturer, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
2010
Visiting Artist, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada
2010
Visiting Artist, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Canada
2009
Visiting Artist, Tipping Point, New York, NY
2009
Invited Lecturer, Teachers College, Columbia University,
New York, NY
2008
Visiting Artist, Cape Farewell, Iceland, Greenland, Arctic Circle
2008
Visiting Artist, Washington University, Florence, Italy
2006-2007
Invited Speaker, The Art Institute of Florence, Florence, Italy
Full Spectrum, 2011Colored gels, natural light
dimensions variable
Full Spectrum (90 Degrees), 2011Colored gels, natural light
dimensions variable
Full Spectrum (Violet Bending), 2011Colored gels, natural light
dimensions variable
Full Spectrum (Corner Reflections), 2011Colored gels, natural light
dimensions variable
Full Spectrum (Turquoise Bending) , 2011Colored gels, natural light
dimensions variable
Full Spectrum (Yellow and Pink), 2011Colored gels, natural light
Dimensions Variable
Influence (Exterior of Paramount Theatre), NJ MOCA Installation, 2010colored gels adhered to windows, sound recordings of Asbury Park community
dimensions variable
Influence, NJ MOCA Installation, 2010colored gels adhered to windows, sound recordings of Asbury Park community
dimensions variable
Influence (Window Grid), NJ MOCA Installation, 2010colored gels adhered to windows, sound recordings of Asbury Park community
dimensions variable
Influence (Ocean), NJ MOCA Installation, 2010colored gels adhered to windows, sound recordings of Asbury Park community
dimensions variable
Influence (Corner View), NJ MOCA Installation, 2010colored gels adhered to windows, sound recordings of Asbury Park community
dimensions variable
Influence (Reflections), NJ MOCA Installation, 2010Colored gels adhered to windows, sound recordings of Asbury Park community
dimensions variable
I Colori di Corigliano (Castle Facade - Colored Windows), 2010Site-specific color, light & sound installation in Italy.
pure pigments, Pietra Leccese, recordings of local community
dimensions variable
I Colori di Corigliano (Tower Window Inserts), 2010Site-specific color, light & sound installation in Italy.
pure pigments, Pietra Leccese, recordings of local community
dimensions variable
I Colori di Corigliano (Tower Detail), 2010Site-specific color, light & sound installation in Italy.
pure pigments, Pietra Leccese, recordings of local community
dimensions variable
I Colori di Corigliano (Malachite Reflection), 2010Site-specific color, light & sound installation in Italy.
pure pigments, Pietra Leccese, recordings of local community
dimensions variable
I Colori di Corigliano (Green Interior), 2010Site-specific color, light & sound installation in Italy.
pure pigments, Pietra Leccese, recordings of local community
dimensions variable
I Colori di Corigliano (Orange Interior), 2010Site-specific color, light & sound installation in Italy.
pure pigments, Pietra Leccese, recordings of local community
dimensions variable