Tess Jaray: From Piero and other paintings
23 January–3 May 2021
New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury, Wiltshire
Tess Jaray's solo exhibition is now installed at the New Art Centre. The indoor galleries remain closed, but the sculpture park is open, and the indoor spaces are easily viewable from the gardens. Booking is essential. To make an appointment, please e-mail [email protected].
This solo presentation includes Jaray's body of work inspired by the altarpieces of Piero della Francesca, on view for the first time. Drawing from Piero's distinct painterly vocabulary - his handling of colour, his geometric compositions and the manner in which he assembled unified scenes - Jaray has generated her own pared-down visual language in order to focus on the possibilities of space. In these paintings, her human approach to abstraction is brought to the fore, as her handling of seemingly familiar imagery invites viewers to enter into the picture plane and participate in the responsive process.
Jaray's longstanding interest in Piero's depictions of three-dimensional space - in which biblical scenes are enacted in such a manner that the viewer is invited to actively participate in their narratives - arose following a transformative period spent in Italy as a young artist.
Published to coincide with the exhibition is a new Ridinghouse book on Jaray. Here Jaray’s paintings are paired with the respective Piero frescos that inspired them, along with short extracts from art historian Roberto Longhi’s seminal Piero della Francesca publication (first published in 1927) chosen by the artist.
