Items Similar to The Left Hand Points Toward Home
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6
Jessica HoustonThe Left Hand Points Toward Home2015
2015
About the Item
In Jessica Houston’s Afterward, Silence (Franklin’s Crewmen’s Grave, Beechey Island) a single pale gravestone stands on an otherwise desolate ashen shore – a relic of Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated 1845 expedition in search of the Northwest Passage. Here, at the polar horizon is where colonial explorers once thought the populated world dropped off. Instead, they were confronted with the presence of established, living, breathing communities. It is also here that scars are most visible.
Many of the works in Horizon Felt began as part of Houston’s own Arctic voyage retracing Franklin’s journey, with the starkly different intention of surveying the effects of climate change and taking visual stock of the traces of colonization. In many of the photographs, polar landscapes are nearly engulfed by luminous colour fields in bright red, magenta, aquamarine and yellow. These hazy demarcations were made by obstructing part of the camera lens with colourful felt, giving the effect of a manual sunset or imposed horizon. They can be by turns meditative – as in Perceptible Changes Over Time (Iceberg, Baffin Bay), wherein a bleached sky and the tip of an iceberg meet a stretch of misty blue – and menacing – as in We’ve Crossed the Line, which similarly features a lonely iceberg, this time interrupted by a blood-red expanse.
Like her photographs, Houston’s paintings employ a logic of division. Sheets of pigment inspired by an Arctic palette of natural elements (moss, berries, stone) are cleanly spliced, segmenting each canvas. They recall the neatly partitioned geometric surfaces of Minimalist paintings, while also evoking territorial boundaries. With titles like Taking Possession and Unnavigated Passage, these visually abstract works are straightforward in their critique of the colonial and environmental damage precipitated by false entitlement. In the latter, two canvases hang side by side; the space between them is illuminated by a placid blue emanating from a strip of paint applied to one side of the smaller painting. Here, the Felt in the series’ title evaporates into a less tangible sense of touch achieved by the effects of light and colour. Boundaries appear less clear-cut – dividing lines evanesce, nearly disappear.
In our flawed human effort to reverse what we’ve done wrong, it can feel like we are chasing a constantly diminishing horizon; night falls slowly on certain species, certain natural resources, certain ways of living, like a final curtain. While Houston’s glowing horizons can be ominous or obscuring, they can also be utopian. The mystery of what lies beyond the horizon motivates the chase, and its luminosity – those slivers of light you might see as an immense late summer sun creeps behind a skyscraper – naturally provide a swell of hope, a sense of expectant fullness. Like the slices of light and colour that delimit Houston’s landscapes, every sunset and every radiant horizon begs to be deeply felt.
- Creator:Jessica Houston (1970, American)
- Creation Year:2015
- Dimensions:Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Width: 33 in (83.82 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:Edition of 10Price: $2,500
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Montreal, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU476666522
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 AllEntre nous IV
By Karine Payette
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Text by Nancy Webb
It’s Saturday night and Karine Payette is in her studio. We meander into a conversation about the dog she used to have and her soft spot for German shepherds, an intensely obedient and loyal breed in a deceivingly wolf-like package. Payette’s most recent series of photographs, sculptures and video work seem to speak directly to this preoccupation with the multifaceted nature of human-animal relationships—the dialogues of control, intimacy, violence and domestication that subtly take place on an interspecies level.
Her workspace is part laboratory, part prop closet—a bowl of fur sits not far from her computer. Somehow in this bright, open, chemical-clean scented room, Payette conjures wildness. We are taken to a strange place, the borderlands of interspecies mingling. At one extreme of the animal-human dynamics scale is the stalwart compliance of a professionally trained German shepherd who responds to commands with robotic precision. Here, power is comfortably held by an off-screen voice, animality pacified by a set of linguistic prompts. At the other end of the scale is a sculpture of a human figure clad in red, sharing a languorous kiss with a wolf. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is immediately called to mind, except that here our hooded protagonist seems to have bailed on grandmother’s orders, instead opting for a forest floor make-out with her canine stalker. This taboo mise-en-scène is a brazen inquiry into the boundaries we maintain with our animal counterparts. Its scale and three-dimensionality contribute to a feeling of immersion that the artist has been courting with her work for the past several years. It feels as though you’ve just walked in on something: you are implicated and your discomfort is like an invisible mist that coats these inanimate beings.
Elsewhere in Payette’s suite of anthropomorphic works, the demarcation between species grows even fainter. A photographic series depicts the slow encroachment of fur, scales and feathers on human skin—a striking process of contamination facilitated by touch. The fusion of flesh, charcoal cat fur and a pale silky dress...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Entre nous II
By Karine Payette
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Text by Nancy Webb
It’s Saturday night and Karine Payette is in her studio. We meander into a conversation about the dog she used to have and her soft spot for German shepherds, an intensely obedient and loyal breed in a deceivingly wolf-like package. Payette’s most recent series of photographs, sculptures and video work seem to speak directly to this preoccupation with the multifaceted nature of human-animal relationships—the dialogues of control, intimacy, violence and domestication that subtly take place on an interspecies level.
Her workspace is part laboratory, part prop closet—a bowl of fur sits not far from her computer. Somehow in this bright, open, chemical-clean scented room, Payette conjures wildness. We are taken to a strange place, the borderlands of interspecies mingling. At one extreme of the animal-human dynamics scale is the stalwart compliance of a professionally trained German shepherd who responds to commands with robotic precision. Here, power is comfortably held by an off-screen voice, animality pacified by a set of linguistic prompts. At the other end of the scale is a sculpture of a human figure clad in red, sharing a languorous kiss with a wolf. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is immediately called to mind, except that here our hooded protagonist seems to have bailed on grandmother’s orders, instead opting for a forest floor make-out with her canine stalker. This taboo mise-en-scène is a brazen inquiry into the boundaries we maintain with our animal counterparts. Its scale and three-dimensionality contribute to a feeling of immersion that the artist has been courting with her work for the past several years. It feels as though you’ve just walked in on something: you are implicated and your discomfort is like an invisible mist that coats these inanimate beings.
Elsewhere in Payette’s suite of anthropomorphic works, the demarcation between species grows even fainter. A photographic series depicts the slow encroachment of fur, scales and feathers on human skin—a striking process of contamination facilitated by touch. The fusion of flesh, charcoal cat fur and a pale silky dress...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Entre nous V
By Karine Payette
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Text by Nancy Webb
It’s Saturday night and Karine Payette is in her studio. We meander into a conversation about the dog she used to have and her soft spot for German shepherds, an intensely obedient and loyal breed in a deceivingly wolf-like package. Payette’s most recent series of photographs, sculptures and video work seem to speak directly to this preoccupation with the multifaceted nature of human-animal relationships—the dialogues of control, intimacy, violence and domestication that subtly take place on an interspecies level.
Her workspace is part laboratory, part prop closet—a bowl of fur sits not far from her computer. Somehow in this bright, open, chemical-clean scented room, Payette conjures wildness. We are taken to a strange place, the borderlands of interspecies mingling. At one extreme of the animal-human dynamics scale is the stalwart compliance of a professionally trained German shepherd who responds to commands with robotic precision. Here, power is comfortably held by an off-screen voice, animality pacified by a set of linguistic prompts. At the other end of the scale is a sculpture of a human figure clad in red, sharing a languorous kiss with a wolf. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is immediately called to mind, except that here our hooded protagonist seems to have bailed on grandmother’s orders, instead opting for a forest floor make-out with her canine stalker. This taboo mise-en-scène is a brazen inquiry into the boundaries we maintain with our animal counterparts. Its scale and three-dimensionality contribute to a feeling of immersion that the artist has been courting with her work for the past several years. It feels as though you’ve just walked in on something: you are implicated and your discomfort is like an invisible mist that coats these inanimate beings.
Elsewhere in Payette’s suite of anthropomorphic works, the demarcation between species grows even fainter. A photographic series depicts the slow encroachment of fur, scales and feathers on human skin—a striking process of contamination facilitated by touch. The fusion of flesh, charcoal cat fur and a pale silky dress...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Entre nous I
By Karine Payette
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Text by Nancy Webb
It’s Saturday night and Karine Payette is in her studio. We meander into a conversation about the dog she used to have and her soft spot for German shepherds, an intensely obedient and loyal breed in a deceivingly wolf-like package. Payette’s most recent series of photographs, sculptures and video work seem to speak directly to this preoccupation with the multifaceted nature of human-animal relationships—the dialogues of control, intimacy, violence and domestication that subtly take place on an interspecies level.
Her workspace is part laboratory, part prop closet—a bowl of fur sits not far from her computer. Somehow in this bright, open, chemical-clean scented room, Payette conjures wildness. We are taken to a strange place, the borderlands of interspecies mingling. At one extreme of the animal-human dynamics scale is the stalwart compliance of a professionally trained German shepherd who responds to commands with robotic precision. Here, power is comfortably held by an off-screen voice, animality pacified by a set of linguistic prompts. At the other end of the scale is a sculpture of a human figure clad in red, sharing a languorous kiss with a wolf. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is immediately called to mind, except that here our hooded protagonist seems to have bailed on grandmother’s orders, instead opting for a forest floor make-out with her canine stalker. This taboo mise-en-scène is a brazen inquiry into the boundaries we maintain with our animal counterparts. Its scale and three-dimensionality contribute to a feeling of immersion that the artist has been courting with her work for the past several years. It feels as though you’ve just walked in on something: you are implicated and your discomfort is like an invisible mist that coats these inanimate beings.
Elsewhere in Payette’s suite of anthropomorphic works, the demarcation between species grows even fainter. A photographic series depicts the slow encroachment of fur, scales and feathers on human skin—a striking process of contamination facilitated by touch. The fusion of flesh, charcoal cat fur and a pale silky dress...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Trinity
By Bevan Ramsay
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Following his first post-secondary degree in Fine Arts in 1994, he trained as a cabinet-maker and completed an apprenticeship in antique restoration. He was co-founder of a successfu...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Chalk Shoreline
By Holly King
Located in Montreal, Quebec
King creates large format photographic landscapes in her studio with sculptural props and painted backdrops. She is interested in the tension between artifice and constructed realiti...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Landscape Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
You May Also Like
Whitney Museum (now Met Breuer), Marcel Breuer, New York, NY
By Ezra Stoller
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin Silver Print
Category
1960s Contemporary Black and White Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Whitney Museum (now Met Breuer), Marcel Breuer, New York, NY
By Ezra Stoller
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin Silver Paper
Category
1960s Contemporary Black and White Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Casper III - B&W Limited Edition Horse Portrait 2019
By Juan Lamarca
Located in Bal Harbour, FL
Casper III, 2019 by Juan Lamarca
Fine art archival cotton paper
Image size: 40 x 30 inches
Edition 2 of 10 plus 2 AP
Unframed
Juan Lamarca's Horse Series, is an abstract collection ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Photography
Materials
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper
Pharrell Williams, Portrait 4. Intervened by the artists.
By Hunter & Gatti
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Pharrell Williams #4 by Hunter & Gatti
Black and White Photography with broken glass on top of the image.
Image size: 45.2 in. H x 32.5 in. W
Frame s...
Category
2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Glass, Photographic Paper, Black and White, Archival Pigment
Pharrell Williams, Portrait 3. Intervened by the artists.
By Hunter & Gatti
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Pharrell Williams #3 by Hunter & Gatti
Black and White Photography with broken glass on top of the image.
Image size: 45.2 in. H x 32.5 in. W
Frame s...
Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
Materials
Photographic Paper, Black and White, Archival Pigment, Glass
Claudia Fauth Random Impression, W 10th S. New York, Photograph 2016
By Claudia Fauth
Located in Berlin, DE
Photograph, 2016. Ultra HD, printed on Fuji Crystal DP I II. 1 of 30 prints behind acrylic glass. Framed. Signed, titled, dated and numbered on the back. It comes directly from the s...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper
