Jeffery Becton • Courthouse Gallery
Jeffery Becton
Meditations On Ambivalence
Meditations on Ambivalence
“Jeffery Becton’s “Meditations on Ambivalence” presents a selection of Becton’s large-scale provocative photomontages. His work plays with the borders between dream and reality, interior and exterior—walls, floors, and ceilings open to the elements—and to the imagination.
Becton uses dye-sublimation onto aluminum to print his photomontages. Each print is carefully proofed by Becton to guarantee the quality of the artwork. The image is first printed onto a transfer paper using inkjet technology, and adhered to a pre-treated sheet of aluminum. The dyes are then infused into the aluminum via heat transfer. Once the dyes submerge underneath the surface, the process is complete and permanent. The prints are archival for up to 65+ years, and tested by Wilhelm imaging research. These semi-gloss fine art aluminum prints retain excellence color density and have minimal glare, so no glass is needed.
Becton’s aluminum prints are handsomely floated in custom wood shadow box frames with a 3.5 inch reveal, or custom wood float frames with a .25 inch reveal. No glass is used, giving the prints a tactile presence.”
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art
6 Court St, Ellsworth, ME 04605
September 7 – October 15, 2022
Monday – Saturday 10am – 5:30pm
Courthouse Gallery offers private viewings by appointment. To make an appointment, please call 207-266-5199.
About the Artist
One of the digital revolution pioneers, Jeffery Becton, is a visual artist who has lived and maintained a studio in Deer Isle, Maine, since 1977. He received formal training at the Yale School of Art, earning an MFA in graphic design in 1976.
As a full-time resident of Maine, Becton is a member of a family with roots there since the 1700s. As an islander, Becton is especially drawn to the ocean, finding meaning and inspiration in its challenging and mercurial presence, the embodiment of the beauty and harshness of life and the proximity of death. With material drawn from his natural surroundings, local homes, and personal imagery, Becton also draws from a vast collection of his ongoing photography to create his compositions. The resulting images exist as a medium between photography, collage, and painting that he refers to as digital montage. He prints all his work himself in his studio.
“Since 1990 I have worked in the medium of digital montage — Combining primarily elements of photography as well as painting, drawing, and scanned materials, the techniques I use foster and give form to intriguing ambiguities, reexamining the boundaries of mixed media and creating altered realities that merge into images rich in symbolism both personal and archetypal. It is not my intention to school the viewer or place before them a fully resolved work that is clear in message, but rather to invite or draw them into an emotional connection, a recognition and unfolding of their own inner experience and understanding. Something akin to finding a unique feeling or emotion that is truly their own. That is the completion of the work.”
