Items Similar to The Sky Was A Doorway
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 2
Jessica HoustonThe Sky Was A Doorway2022
2022
About the Item
A group of figures heads for icy distant mountains. A familiar enough scene of polar explorers hauling their sledges. Yet somehow this does not quite fit the heroic mold. The ice and sky are tinged a movie musical pale blue and their gear is a bit too colorful for the era of man-hauling. And then there’s the sled, piled high not with boxes of supplies but with a jumbled heap of antiquities: Greek Athenas, bits of a coliseum, a ship’s great wheel. In Jessica Houston’s collage “The Long Haul,” the explorers drag history itself into the great beyond, their backs turned from their absurd load. But we take in the entire scene.
In her suite of works, Over the Edge of the World, Houston uses oil on wood, ink on paper, and collages of found images, many from National Geographic Magazine, to rearrange the evidence – and thus history’s possibilities.
Houston joins visual artists such as Judit Hersko, Katja Aglert, and Isaac Julien who have been inspired by the explorers of the past. Like them, she draws, in part, on the singular tradition of polar exploration narratives as well as fictions such as Ursula Le Guin’s “Sur” (1981), a utopian feminist hoax in which a party of South American women reach the South Pole in 1909, two years before the official arrival of European explorers. Le Guin’s explorers do not feel compelled to leave any written record or physical proof of their presence at the South Pole. If Le Guin’s women might have made it, what other traces have been missed?
Collage can work alongside alternative history: it interprets, interrupts, and rearranges. It questions the completed whole, instead emphasizing composition and relation. Collage suggests it all might be … otherwise. Houston’s collages flaunt their second nature. Yet what they show remains somehow plausible. You want to believe what you’re beginning to see.
In “A life Attuned to Larger Rhythms” Houston grids out rectangles of captured images to overwhelm the eye as the polar environment itself might (whiteout is a paradoxical species of optical overstimulation). Through the strangely ordered confusion of an ice survey grafted atop a chessboard, the mind begins to recognize new connections, emergent shapes: a different future? In “Launching Strategy” a yellow-orange pyramid balances garishly atop a tent. Which came first, the realist tent or the Platonic shape? Can we ever be sure that we’re not already seeing through premade abstractions? Or is it that baggage we’ve been dragging along?
In “Architecture of the Anthropocene” and “Red Blood, Red Earth” Houston reroutes visually symbolic through-lines between women and non-European people and the official history in which they appear dimly or not at all. A full-skirted woman holds onto the tether of a kite that seems to pull her upwards towards a weather balloon floating above an Antarctic base’s radio tower; a row of tropical workers wielding pickaxes folds into the trajectory of a sailor aiming a bow and arrow at an iceberg stained with red. These are not people or images normally associated with polar discovery. But shouldn’t they matter?
“Territory Over Land” strips in a scene from a painted depiction of the tropics, possibly from one of Captain James Cook’s circumnavigations. “Captain Cook’s Legacy” more directly confronts an official portrait of Cook with the torn-in eyes from what can only be described as the explorer’s anonymous dark Other. The hybrid portrait is a kind of contact zone. “Henson and Peary – Past Entanglements” is a cooler, less volatile twin portrait of disputed discoverer of the North Pole Robert Peary and his African-American second in command, Mathew Henson, who was consistently erroneously referred to as Peary’s “manservant.”
Houston re-mystifies polar landscapes that have become through tourism and even the most well-meaning nature documentaries too familiar, too smooth and clean, replete with aesthetically pleasing icebergs and bright icescapes under perfect blue skies. But the poles have 6 months of darkness too. Houston deepens and complicates received images, but without reviving heroic dramas of survival against a blank, enemy ice. The ice in the “Sur” paintings is grimy, oily, swirling with evocations of masted ships swallowed up in dark seas. History is a risk. Survival is not guaranteed.
- Creator:Jessica Houston (1970, American)
- Creation Year:2022
- Dimensions:Height: 7 in (17.78 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Montreal, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU47610875892
Jessica Houston
Jessica Houston (MA, Columbia University) has traveled from pole to pole, using color and light to entangle and provoke questions related to our changing natural world, and our nature within it. She has created site-specific works for the NJ MOCA (NJ); the Castello di Corigliano (Puglia, Italy); and The Albany Airport (Albany, NY). Select exhibitions include Art Mûr Gallery, Montréal, Canada; The Hyde Collection Museum, Glens Falls, NY; and The Latimer House Museum, New York, NY. She has been invited to residencies at The Albers Foundation and CAMAC Center for Art, Science and Technology in France. Her works are funded by The Canada Council for the Arts and are in the collections of La collection Prêt d’œuvres d’art, Musée National Des Beaux-Arts du Quebec; Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), Montréal, Québec; Bank of Montréal, Toronto; and the Consulate General of Monaco, Montréal. She has lectured at The Art Institute of Florence; Columbia University; Concordia University; and OCAD University.
About the Seller
5.0
Vetted Professional Seller
Every seller passes strict standards for authenticity and reliability
Established in 1996
1stDibs seller since 2014
104 sales on 1stDibs
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Shipping from: Montreal, Canada
- Return Policy
Authenticity Guarantee
In the unlikely event there’s an issue with an item’s authenticity, contact us within 1 year for a full refund. DetailsMoney-Back Guarantee
If your item is not as described, is damaged in transit, or does not arrive, contact us within 7 days for a full refund. Details24-Hour Cancellation
You have a 24-hour grace period in which to reconsider your purchase, with no questions asked.Vetted Professional Sellers
Our world-class sellers must adhere to strict standards for service and quality, maintaining the integrity of our listings.Price-Match Guarantee
If you find that a seller listed the same item for a lower price elsewhere, we’ll match it.Trusted Global Delivery
Our best-in-class carrier network provides specialized shipping options worldwide, including custom delivery.More From This Seller
View AllA Balancing Land
By Jessica Houston
Located in Montreal, Quebec
A group of figures heads for icy distant mountains. A familiar enough scene of polar explorers hauling their sledges. Yet somehow this does not quite fit the heroic mold. The ice and sky are tinged a movie musical pale blue and their gear is a bit too colorful for the era of man-hauling. And then there’s the sled, piled high not with boxes of supplies but with a jumbled heap of antiquities: Greek Athenas, bits of a coliseum, a ship’s great wheel. In Jessica Houston’s collage “The Long Haul,” the explorers drag history itself into the great beyond, their backs turned from their absurd load. But we take in the entire scene.
In her suite of works, Over the Edge of the World, Houston uses oil on wood, ink on paper, and collages of found images, many from National Geographic Magazine, to rearrange the evidence – and thus history’s possibilities.
Houston joins visual artists such as Judit Hersko, Katja Aglert, and Isaac Julien...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
If the Two Realities Are Thus Brought Together
By Jessica Houston
Located in Montreal, Quebec
A group of figures heads for icy distant mountains. A familiar enough scene of polar explorers hauling their sledges. Yet somehow this does not quite fit the heroic mold. The ice and sky are tinged a movie musical pale blue and their gear is a bit too colorful for the era of man-hauling. And then there’s the sled, piled high not with boxes of supplies but with a jumbled heap of antiquities: Greek Athenas, bits of a coliseum, a ship’s great wheel. In Jessica Houston’s collage “The Long Haul,” the explorers drag history itself into the great beyond, their backs turned from their absurd load. But we take in the entire scene.
In her suite of works, Over the Edge of the World, Houston uses oil on wood, ink on paper, and collages of found images, many from National Geographic Magazine, to rearrange the evidence – and thus history’s possibilities.
Houston joins visual artists such as Judit Hersko, Katja Aglert, and Isaac Julien...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
Of a Difference in Which the Differences Are Inseparable
By Jessica Houston
Located in Montreal, Quebec
A group of figures heads for icy distant mountains. A familiar enough scene of polar explorers hauling their sledges. Yet somehow this does not quite fit the heroic mold. The ice and sky are tinged a movie musical pale blue and their gear is a bit too colorful for the era of man-hauling. And then there’s the sled, piled high not with boxes of supplies but with a jumbled heap of antiquities: Greek Athenas, bits of a coliseum, a ship’s great wheel. In Jessica Houston’s collage “The Long Haul,” the explorers drag history itself into the great beyond, their backs turned from their absurd load. But we take in the entire scene.
In her suite of works, Over the Edge of the World, Houston uses oil on wood, ink on paper, and collages of found images, many from National Geographic Magazine, to rearrange the evidence – and thus history’s possibilities.
Houston joins visual artists such as Judit Hersko, Katja Aglert, and Isaac Julien...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
Eight Adélie Penguins...
By Jessica Houston
Located in Montreal, Quebec
“Eight Adélie Penguins immediately came to greet us … They insisted on us going to visit Hut Point, where the large structure built by Captain Scott’s pa...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
we came in sight of the Barrier...
By Jessica Houston
Located in Montreal, Quebec
A group of figures heads for icy distant mountains. A familiar enough scene of polar explorers hauling their sledges. Yet somehow this does not quite fit the heroic mold. The ice and...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
She dug out one more cell...
By Jessica Houston
Located in Montreal, Quebec
“She dug out one more cell just under the ice surface, leaving nearly a transparent sheet of ice like a greenhouse roof; and there, alone, she worked at sculptures...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
You May Also Like
"After the Rains" by Holt - Large Blue, Green, Earth Tone Contemporary Abstract
Located in Carmel, CA
Katheryn Holt (American, born 1951)
"After the Rains" 2022
Oil Paint, Mixed Media, Wood Panel, Wood, Wire
The artist signed the back of the painting.
Original: 40" x 60" x 1/2"
Fram...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Materials
Wire
"Ghosts" - Abstract Composition in Acrylic, Oil, and Ink on Cradled Wood Panel
Located in Soquel, CA
"Ghosts" - Abstract Composition in Acrylic, Oil, and Ink on Cradled Wood Panel
Dramatic abstract composition by Michele King (American, b. 1962). This piece resembles a nebula, with swirling texture and subtle variations in color. Although the piece appears to be mostly black, there are a variety of colors that peek through the top layer. A layer of high gloss varnish creates a nearly iridescent quality to the piece, and the colors shift subtly depending on the viewing angle.
Signed "Michele King" on verso.
No frame, but the edges are painted for a frame-less display.
Board size: 24"H x 24"W
Michele King (American, b. 1962) was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to California in the 1990s. She attended Virginia Tech and Harvard, where she earned her MPA. She pursued graduate studies at the Glasgow School of Art in 2013. Her work is focused on “memory, the future, and ways in which perception is shaped through a combination of reality and imagination.” King’s process involves layering of various media, creating depth and texture.
AWARDS and RESIDENCIES
2019 Individual Artist Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco CA
2017 Creative Research Grant/Artist-in-Residence, Jiwar Creació i Societat, Barcelona, Spain
2014 Development Grant, Bay Area Video Coalition, San Francisco CA
2013 Individual Artist Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco CA
2012 Artist-In-Residence, Can Serrat, El Bruc, Spain
2010 Artist-in-Residence, Red Cinder Creativity Center, Na’alehu, Hawaii
2008 Artspan Selections (Juried), LIMN Gallery, San Francisco CA
2007 Studio Grant/Artist-in-Residence, Red Ink Studios, San Francisco CA (2 years)
2007 Cultural Exchange Invitational, Le Genie de la Bastille, Paris, France
1999 Emerging Artist Award, 42nd
San Diego Art Institute, San Diego CA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS and PROJECTS
2019 Infinite Sketch Installation, Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, New York
The Happiness Project Interactive Installation, Oakland Murmur, CA
Love is Thicker, site specific installation, TBA
2018 Poetics of Light, Avenue 12 Gallery, San Francisco, CA (with Truong Tran)
Exhibition Gràcia Plaça de la Vila, Barcelona Spain (with Elfi Gulen & Isador Fernandez)
Urban Mobility Archive Project/Color of Belonging, Barcelona, Spain (with Jiwar)
2017 Stanford Urban Resilience Lab Collaboration, ELL Gallery & Stanford University
Animate Objects, Curated State Pop-Up Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
Familiar Distance, 123 Bolinas, Fairfax, CA (solo)
Art for AIDS, Metreon, San Francisco CA
2016 Altered BooksMarks, Adobe Backroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA (co-curator)
Daylighted Projections Exhibition, Phoenix Hotel, San Francisco CA
Levi’s Vintage Textile Workshop, Monterey CA (assisting Sherri Wood)
Aesthetics and the Night Sky, San Juan Bautista, California
The Essence Library, San Francisco Art Institute ACE, San Francisco, CA
2015 Form + Substance, Curated State, San Francisco, CA
Under the Moon, Avenue Gallery, San Francisco, CA (with Michelle Brandemuehl)
2014 After Dark, SOMArts Ramp Gallery, San Francisco, CA (solo/installation)
2013 The Telephone Project, Brooklyn NY/global (with Satellite Collective)
2012 The Lost and Found Project, Can Serrat AIR, El Bruc Spain
Eyes Closed, Can Serrat International Art & Music Festival, El Bruc Spain
Here/Now Auction, Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland, CA
2011 Can’t Trace Time, Mina Dresden Gallery, San Francisco, CA (with Andrzej Karwacki)
Live Paintings, Red Poppy Art House, San Francisco, CA (with Adrian Arias)
The Magic Hour Installation, Columbia Collaboration Lab, New York NY
Angry at the Movies...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Materials
Ink, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Spring Snow (Contemporary Encaustic Painting of Sunset Behind Dark Treeline)
By Regina Quinn
Located in Hudson, NY
Contemporary Impressionist Encaustic Landscape Painting
"Spring Snow", made by Regina Quinn in 2023
Encaustic, oil with wax, and India Ink on panel
16 x 12 inches, 17.25 x 13.25 x 2...
Category
2010s Contemporary Landscape Paintings
Materials
Encaustic, Oil, Wood Panel
"Celadon 3"- Soft Subtle Pastels, Fine Art Abstract Painting
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Loy Luo is a Chinese artist based in New York. She received a Master's Degree from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in 2010 and taught art at the Beijing Institute of Science and Technology Management from 2010 to 2012.
Though Luo's main focus has been painting and sculpting, she is also a conceptual and performance artist...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Mixed Media, Oil, Wood Panel
$12,000 Sale Price
33% Off
The House At The End Of The Lane
By Timothy White
Located in Crested Butte, CO
Timothy White is a mixed media artist who comes from a background in fine furniture making. His current body of work is a series of evocative mixed media panels, entitled “American P...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil Pastel, Oil, Wood Panel, C Print
Rainshine
By Timothy White
Located in Crested Butte, CO
Timothy White is a mixed media artist who comes from a background in fine furniture making. His current body of work is a series of evocative mixed media panels, entitled “American P...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Oil Pastel, Oil, Wood Panel, C Print
$3,600