Fei Disbrow, At the Beginning, 2025, sublimation print on aluminum, 48 x 43 x 5.5 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and Gallery Jones.
Fei Disbrow, As Simple as Black and White, 2025, sublimation print on aluminum, 51 x 74 x 2.5 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and Gallery Jones.
Fei Disbrow: Quietly Palpable
Opening Reception
Saturday, April 4, 2 – 4 pm
*Add to Calendar
In Fei Disbrow’s artistic practice, the materials used are in support of the exploration of texture and shape. The artist’s rigorous composition is the syntax by which this relationship is expressed. Previously, Disbrow has used fabrics such as cotton, wool, felt, and mylar to add dimensionality to two-dimensional work. Some of the fabrics evoke a subtle symbolism, such as Oxford cotton, or present an incongruent relationship, such as Tyvek stitched over linen, but the considered and meaningful placement of form, colour, and line is the connective tissue that unifies the object.
Working with photography is no different for Disbrow. The various textures come from photographs of cryptogam, a classification of organisms that includes mosses, lichens, and algae. By printing directly onto metal that Disbrow cuts and shapes, she can make work that is both representative of the organisms and something entirely different, creating an in-between space: a familiar form and texture that seems to have mutated or gone astray.
That photography is the main tool for image-making in these works might be perceived as ironic, given that the subject matter is like an abstract painting that covers a significant portion of the Earth’s surface. But to be out in the world contemplating the ground covering is precisely the quiet experience that Disbrow was seeking and is now communicating. It is significant that the supporting structure of these artworks is photography, very slow photography, as this measured approach echoes the exploratory nature of Disbrow’s artistic practice.
