Jessica Dickinson, from 1 (ripped / shifted / reality comes real / days come urgent / the unknown / fathomable), March, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 2 (shadows of the future / falling hard / before us / all will: falls down / there is nothing / to do / but a vigilant / nothing –), March, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 3 (if time / could be seen / how would it look / it looks at us / slow or fast or stopped and backwards / it loops in the mind / but still: / one foot in front of the other / it passes), March, 2020
Jessica Disckinson, from 4 (spectral hint / of what / was going / to be / memory of intentions / now laid / down to rest / there will always be / that sharp toothed urge / that pointed light / that energy with an aim / there is no taking / of this desire), March, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 5 (it hovers / out of reach / like / another time / that lives beside / and behind / next to / and in / front / of days / the delineation / of purpose / your purpose / put aside / a hole / that is / full / more full), March, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 6 (what could be / can be / in a different light / a slant / that shows / what was mostly hidden / that thing / - that! / is what really / should be), March, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 7 (black corner / shadow of each day / reaches past / and forwards / deep / is this asking / the answer / sharp / in its definition / down / we must brace / into an / invisible current / steady we plant / our feet), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 8 (flat grey / another day / boundary on our dreams / dimensions hidden / only the thud / of close reality / closed wandering / see it: / for what / it is / contrast / a neutral zone / in which / to measure / the bright), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 9 (touch the edge / the breathing core / the reason for / the constant hum / the rhythms center / don’t forget / don’t ever leave / don’t ever think / it’s not there / or you’re not allowed / or it’s not worth it / it is alive / it is the reason / it can’t stop / don’t look away), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 10 (needing something / like a / ground / even if / it’s imagined / to hold up / to create / a vertical / while / everything else / is falling), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 11 (sitting here / as the / sun rises / here / so quiet / while the / light comes quickly if you don’t look / if you do look / every transition / into vision / a path / to dimension / brighter as you / leave darkness / yet the dark / held always / these forms), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 12 (clear blue / tell me / of your purity / no: / i don’t believe in purity / tell me / of your strength / i believe in / strength / as long as it’s / strong enough / to be / still), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 13 (what does it take / to always believe / to stand tall / to move forward / the long line / the margin’s detour / the strong winds / there is no telling / the future / is a question / there is / only now / and the resistance / of collapse), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 14 (with / with in / with-this / without boundaries / always / two-sided / contained : not-so / with: all / all: with), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 15 (dark day / but the / light is there / different sources / now present their / utilization / the variations / of grey / now ask for / attention / the covers / of neutrality / offer / their weight / immobility / can be / necessary), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 16 (the constant / battle / the stay up / the day after day / keep the fall / away / marching marching / the sound / makes a beat / an interior cadence / in which / to follow), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 17 (left hand corner / of the / window pane / on the exterior of / the building across / from me: I see you / direct and / bold / you say : something can start here / or anywhere / whole possibilities / open / if we / let them / if we / give them / our witnessing / the one / and two / of exchange), April, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 18 (shades of green / all of them / have suddenly / appeared / fullness approaches / the eye / relentlessly / moving forward / insisting on growing / while we / stay / still.), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 19 (two / either side / beside / with / with-in / a depth of / two versions / of living / yet attached / and contingent / it’s shade / or potency / relative to / the other), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 20 (there is uncertainty / and then there is / the certainty / of this floor : it needs to be wiped up / so I feel it / under my hand / and / the bottom edge / of the window frame / painted several layers / of white : casts a thin shadow / i see it.), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 21 (the night / of the outside / a darkness / that reflects back / the electric light / of so many inventions / hear the music / that marks / time’s progression / finish wiping up the floor / pick myself up / and feed the cat / grateful for / daily responsibilities), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 22 (rein it in / bring it forth / let it lie / take it / as it / is / make it / what you can / harness / it all / fortify.), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 23 (warmth / the presence / of others / to be / near / to feel / the see / no interference / no distance / just there / hear / the voice / as you watch / it exit / the body / no disembodiment / no: flat screen talking talking / voices interrupted / by machines / yes: heat of our gestures / as they / resonate / off each other), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 24 (protection / to keep going / if I could send / all my / forces / and fight / for you / breathe into / the pain / and stand / up / will into / being / the future), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 25 (shadow / inside a shadow / crevice / in a cavern / a depth / inside / what we thought / we knew. / the neighbors lights / bouncing off / brick walls / always there / but now / makes visible: / how far / things can go / how dark), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 26 (pushed / into a / small space / tight here / body makes / the most / of / it / as mind / tries to spread / the square footage / of the past / unrolls / as the / moment cleaves / us away / separate / our futures / divide), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 27 (silence / stillness / makes / the space / the room / grows dimensions / and gravity / becomes aware / the objects / hold the light / as shadow / does its part / body / feels its place / and mind / follows eye), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 28 (the table / and the time / we have spent / here / no longer / just for eating on / it is a whole / vast surface / a perimeter / of germination / where you learn / and i / sit here / and chip away / at what / my hands can do / to manifest / my mind / diligently we traverse / our abrupt restationing / and the table / holds / our potential), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 29 (the opposite / of flesh / the flatness / of this floor / these walls / the screens / the air stale / from our inhabitance / repetition / has lost / it’s ritual / and routine / moves hollow / the opposite / of wind), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 30 (the breaking / the sound / of loss / of letting go / oddly that quake / carves / an expanse / so vast / that along / with it / comes the / magnitude / of having known / so much / the connections / we are capable of / these contours / of rupture / define us), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 31 (deep shadows / more than / an omen / it’s real / this time / rage must be / released / stand up / from the / lying down / no light / without shadow / shine on / the fire / keep it pointed / where it heals / and changes), May, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 32 (wanting something / higher / brighter / stronger / and new / elevate / amplify / illuminate / believe / disrupt / crack / let grow / expand beyond / a vision / into our / reality), June, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 33 (sharp / and bright / an illumination / cut hard / brings the far / close / and the future / now. / the crack / creates / the fierce / expanse), June, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 34 (green and blue / blue and green / through the window / gentle / is the pattern / solace / and comfort / wind / helps the rhythm / but not / so strong / that it / departs / stay here / for now / for the eyes / and mind), June, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 35 (spark / on the water / reflecting the / unseen sun / quivers / for just / this moment / a flame / that comes forward / eyes feel / the heat / there is / not enough time / not enough space / to render / how deep / this cuts), June, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 36 (all i want / sometimes / is open air / no weight / no sharp pokes / no have to / or now it’s time / just the sky / framed / by this window / in this moment / defined by / it’s absence / of earth’s / gravity), June, 2020
Jessica Dickinson, from 37 (work / labor / body to / the surfaces / moving / friction / removal / addition / asserting change / accumulation / of effort / there is meaning / in work / through taking the ache of / not seeing / what you’re seeing / until / you make it), June, 2020
James Fuentes is pleased to present from: notebook drawings and notations, a project by Jessica Dickinson. This exhibition brings together thirty-seven notebook drawings made by Dickinson during New York City’s stay at home orders due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Since 2003, Dickinson’s notebook drawings and writings have functioned as poetic scripts for the structure and process for individual paintings. These new drawings however assemble a distinct series on their own, marking integers during this specific historical period of processing sudden change, isolation, resilience, and collective interdependence. The exhibition’s title “from” designates the making-within-and-out-of a certain place, space, and point in time. Reductive and immediate, the drawings give form and language to durational shifts in perception, feeling, and thinking in the peripheries of lived and embodied spaces. Removed from drawing books, the tension between restrained forms and the central seam bring attention to their fragility, while indicating the intimacy of the book form as their source. Each drawing is directed by writing on its reverse side. These sparse observations of emotions and situations, fleeting light, color, shadow, and pattern, gather and give matter to a space for reflection.
Dickinson’s practice is centered around dense atmospheric abstract paintings that explore shifting experiences of time, perception, matter, and consciousness. Optical and tactile, minimal and baroque, restrained yet generous, they offer space for the labor and process of paying attention. Making only four paintings a year, her ongoing drawing projects - notebook drawings, traces, works on paper, and remainders - extend these ideas through their own particular materialities and modalities. The notebook drawings, and writing that accompany them, have the distinct role as part of the source material for Dickinson’s paintings.
This is the first project dedicated to Dickinson’s notebook drawings and writing. Both front and back of the drawings are displayed online. Accompanying the exhibition is an ebook of the drawings in chronological sequence to experience the work in book form.
Jessica Dickinson (b.1975) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Solo exhibitions include James Fuentes, New York; Altman Siegel, San Francisco; David Petersen Gallery, Minneapolis; and Maisterravalbuena, Madrid. Numerous group exhibitions include “New Ruins,” American University Art Museum, Washington D.C.; “See Sun and Think Shadow,” Gladstone Gallery, New York; “Room by Room: Monographic Presentations from The Faulconer and Rachofsky Collections,” The Warehouse, Dallas; “Come Through,” Sikkema Jenkins, New York; and “Besides, With, Against, and Yet: Abstraction and The Ready Made Gesture,” The Kitchen, New York. Works by Dickinson are held in the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York and The Rachofsky Collection in Dallas.