Jeannine Dabb:
Underneath It All
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.