in her wake

Julie M. Gallery presents some light fall reading, the exhibition essay for Miriam Cabessa’s in her wake!


Miriam Cabessa: in her wake

The drawings and paintings of Miriam Cabessa are focused explorations of direct contact between the artist and surface. Neither the product of a pencil or a brush, this work flies in the face of tradition.  At first glance, it is nearly impossible to decypher the process behind these creations.  Certainly, there is no familiar trace of brushstrokes or hatching—and this is perplexing.

The precision inherent in Cabessa’s work ignites the imagination.  Instead of viewing the work as an autonomous object, the mind automatically tries to unravel the process by which it was created.  And until 2009, when Cabessa revealed her signature technique in a painting performance at Pulse New York art fair, her process remained largely a mystery.

Using oil on linen or masonite, or powdered graphite and turpentine on paper, Cabessa creates a surface wash that is sensitive to her touch in the same way that photographic paper is sensitive to light.  The image is always created by exposing negative spaces: pulling or scraping pigment aside to heighten the contrast of her compositions.  The images she crafts are traces of her movements; essentially they are drawings in light. Critic John Yau writes that, “Cabessa’s composition is a record of a single, sustained and segmented gesture, a discrete performance.”[i] (more…)