Jessica Labatte
The Brightness
December 2 - 5, 2010
NADA Miami Beach

December 4, 2010 - January 2, 2011
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

This new project of Jessica Labatte's hung concurrently in Golden Gallery's solo booth at NADA Miami Beach and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

The Brightness incorporates large sheets of paper that Labatte originally used as a covering for her studio floor while working on a separate project that involved spray paint. Abandoning the original project, Labatte used the paper to create an assemblage in her studio comprising three layers of paper positioned approximately three feet apart from each other. Portions of the paper are cut out to reveal the contrasting colors of the work's other layers, which not only include spray-painted paper but also objects such as a sleeping bag and towel. Concerned with the mechanics of sight, and how color is perceived, Labatte arranges colors so that they recede or advance depending on how they are juxtaposed in the composition, which appears flattened when photographed, making it difficult to determine the spatial configuration in the resulting image.

For the photographic series Surface Effects #1-10 (2010), Labatte tore up small foil gift bags, arranging the pieces into different shapes. The vibrant colors on the surface of the bags are actually reflections of the paper installation Labatte created in her studio for The Brightness. The resulting photographs resemble small crystals or geodes, each uniquely reflecting the installation. These works continue Labatte's ongoing investigation of photographic space and her interest in the relationship between photography and sculpture.

Labatte CV (pdf)

Holland Cotter, The New York Times, 2011.
Jessica Labatte, Chicago Magazine, 2011.
Jessica Labatte at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2010.
Paddy Johnson, Art Agenda, 2010.
Jason Foumberg, Newcity Art, 2010.