Tomashi Jackson | Across the Universe
MCA Denver
June 14 – September 10, 2023
This mid-career survey presents nearly a decade of Tomashi Jackson’s (SMACT ’12) work, providing an overview of the threads in her practice and varied use of materials across disciplines. Alongside works from the last eight years of Jackson’s career, the exhibition presents three new paintings and a video piece commissioned by MCA Denver, made using materials from Colorado’s rich landscape, including marble dust from the Western Slope and imagery from the Great Sand Dunes.
Jackson creates vibrant research-driven works in the mediums of paintings, printmaking, video, photography, fibre and sculpture. Influenced by California muralist traditions reflecting peoples’ movements of the 1950s–90s, her often immersive work scrutinizes the mechanics of societal power and recognizes the triumphs for the empowerment of communities of color.
The artist builds textured surfaces from textiles, paper, site specific earthen materials and ephemera, transformed archival images, washes and opaque applications of colors to visualize her observations of human experiences touched by legislated governance. Her practice employs geometric abstraction, expressionism, and halftone lines that crosshatch and affect the viewer’s perception, illuminating the intersecting nature of historic resistance to oppression with present day resonances. Many recent paintings are supported by awning-style structures extending from the walls, bringing a protective architecture element inside and projecting colored lines from vinyl strips onto the wall itself.
Curated by Miranda Lash, MCA Denver’s Senior Curator.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
