A colonial-style brick building shopfront has a embedded signage reading Gunter-Smith Center for Community Engagement, followed by the York College of Pennsylvania logo.

Jeannine Dabb:
Underneath It All

January 8–February 20, 2021
Marketview Arts, Gallery Hall

Underneath It All is an exhibition of recent YCP graduate Jeannine Dabb’s senior body of work. Informed by her career as an aesthetician, this series of paintings uses thick layers of paint, gold, and glitter to explore the complexity of her subjects and the urge to embellish and conceal.

Artist Statement:

I am an observer by nature. During my career as an aesthetician I learned to look beyond the surface of people to gain a deeper understanding of people. This experience has influenced the content of my work as an artist. When I paint, I portray people, places, and things to which I have an emotional connection using thick layers of paint that symbolize both the complexity of my subjects and the urge to embellish and sometimes hide our surfaces. My technique of multiple layering of paint, markers, glitter, and even makeup is strongly influenced by my years of covering scars and insecurities with topical makeup and things that made people feel pretty. I learned long ago that pain and traumatic injury are often hidden below layers of cosmetics. I want people to see the beauty that I see; that the world is perfectly imperfect. It is complex by design and always has complex layers below its beautiful outer layers. When scratching the surface, laying down layers and layers of glitter, gold, and paint I invite viewers to embrace things for their strangeness and visually dig below the layers to find the complex meanings buried under and between the layers. There are objects and forms to be found in the layers of paint that sometimes represent chapters in a story, though often not an overtly narrative one. 

I paint both plein air and directly from my own photographs in my studio. The colors chosen reflect my mood, often a brilliant palette with strong, positive vibration. I use dynamic line and shape to create movement, giving vitality and significance to places and people that are frequently not represented or misrepresented. This work portrays the beauty of my community.

Jeannine Dabb: Underneath It All Exhibition 2021
Jeannine Dabb, Rose Tinted Glasses, 2020. Detail image.
Jeannine Dabb Headshot - Underneath It All Exhibition
Jeannine Dabb '20, Artist

About the Artist

Jeannine Dabb '20 is an artist residing in York, PA. She returned to college to study painting after 22 years owning a small business in the medical aesthetics industry. She graduated in December 2020 from York College of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art, with a specialty in painting and drawing. In 2019, three of her artworks were accepted into the York Art Association Forty-Ninth Annual Juried Exhibition. In February 2020, she won an Award of Distinction in Emerging Visions, at Creative York and five of her works were accepted into the 2020 Annual Juried Student Exhibition at York College Galleries. Out of the five works, she received a Second Place Award and an Honorable mention. She had her first solo show in July 2020 at the Grotto in Downtown York and her work was accepted into York Fest Juried show at Creative York. Her recently commissioned painting will be installed in the Surgical Waiting Room at Penn State Health Hampden Hospital.
Contact Us
Marketview Arts
Marketview Arts
37 W. Philadelphia Street
York, PA 17401
Phone: 717.815.1909
marketviewarts@ycp.edu

Rebekah Eyre, M.A.
Director of Operations
Phone: 717.815.1545
reyre@ycp.edu

Visitor Hours
Tuesday | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Wednesday | 3–7 p.m.
Thursday | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Friday | 2–9 p.m.
Saturday | 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
Sunday–Monday | Closed