Jessica Eaton (born 1977) is a Canadian photographer living in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec.

Life

Eaton was born in 1977 in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

, Canada, and she received a BFA in photography from the Emily Carr Institute. Her solo exhibitions include Wild Permutations at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland (USA), and Ad Infinitum at The Photographers' Gallery in London (UK). Eaton has been featured in multiple group exhibitions. Including: Under Construction (Netherlands), Color Acting (USA), Photography is Magic (South Korea). In 2016, Eaton was nominated for the Sobey Art Award. She was featured in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, ArtNews (Cover), and The Guardian. Eaton was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019, identifying her as one of the most important current Canadian photographers.

Work

Eaton's photographs focus mostly on some of the basic elements of photography: light, color, and exposure. By manipulating these different aspects in her photos, Eaton is able to explore the different possibilities within photography. After moving from

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and then to

, Eaton produced a career changing series of photos, "Cubes for Albers and LeWitt", for a show sponsored by

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

. The series of images are a tribute to artists

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

and

Sol LeWitt Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he pref ...

, taking inspiration from their minimalist and abstract style. Eaton exploits the camera, as she calls it, by continuously taking multiple shots of a cube painted in different colors without winding the exposure. Unlike painting, the added layers of shots on the same piece of film brightens the colors in the pictures. In some works she shoots only grey cubes and uses different color filters over the lens to expose the film. Her photographs have appeared in publications such as '' Hunter and Cook'', ''BlackFlash'', ''Pyramid Power'' and ''Lay Flat 02: Meta''. One of her photographs was chosen for the cover of the March 2011 issue of ''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

''. Her work has been included in a number of group and solo exhibitions in Canada and the United States, as well as in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, Amsterdam, and London.

Awards

In 2011, Eaton received the Bright Spark Award from the Magenta Foundation. She was awarded the prize for photography at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography in 2012. In 2019, Eaton was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of photography.

Collections

Eaton's work is included in the permanent collections of: * Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal *

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

References

External links

*
Jessica Eaton – M+B website feature
1977 births Living people Emily Carr University of Art and Design alumni Artists from Montreal Artists from Regina, Saskatchewan 21st-century Canadian photographers 21st-century Canadian women photographers {{Canada-photographer-stub