Solo Exhibition at Georgia Blue Gallery, Anchorage, AK
Jesse Hedden
By the Window: New Still Life Paintings
Georgia Blue Gallery
Anchorage, AK
December 4, 2024 - January 1, 2025
First Friday Reception on December 6th, from 5-7pm
For more information, please visit the Georgia Blue Gallery.
My commentary on this new body of work is below, as well. Thanks so much!
Shaped Table, Basket and Gourds (2024)
30 x 23.75 in
Oil
I delight in the experience of drawing from observed subjects, playing one form off another in a rhythmic dance. My work finds form in a variety of media with an emphasis on painting, collage and sculpture. Direct observation is central to my process for gathering critical information about light, structure, materials and to connect emotionally with the subjects. Equally important is how one articulates in 2-dimensions what exists in the world in 3- dimensions.
I have long engaged with still life. A collection of objects is mounted on the shelves outside my studio, some having been with me for multiple decades. Like actors, same objects can take on different roles in each new composition. Studio landscapes, as I like to call them, engage multiple levels of space with cascading backdrops, stacked tables, and every nook and cranny considered during construction. Setting about the action of painting, I seek to capture that moment of discovery when the eye is awakened by a first glance. For this exhibition I wanted to include more ephemeral and living subjects. Plants, fruit and vegetables offer a great array of shapes and colors that make me want to respond in paint. I was particularly excited to paint the geraniums that flourished last summer. Blooms and leaves alike are dynamic in form and color, tumbling out of their containers.
Many of these works have had multiple lives. As sure as I might be about a direction, the true test is seeing the idea manifest in a physical form. It is with great joy that I pursue this process, each time repeating itself anew with purpose.
