The View Out His Window (and in his mind’s eye) Photographs by Jeffery Becton

Jeffery Becton, Blue Chest, 2012, pigment print from digital montage, 20 x 22 inches, Courtesy of the Artist and Bates College Museum of Art.

The View Out His Window (and in his mind’s eye) Photographs by Jeffery Becton

January 7 – May 7, 2017

“The View Out His Window (and in his mind’s eye”) features large-scale photographs by Jeffery Becton, that are actually photo-montages that bring the viewer into a dreamy, imaginary world. A photographer who plays with pixels the way a painter manipulates oil on canvas, Becton makes images that demand contemplation. Combining the familiar and unfamiliar, his photographic montages are full of mystery and a sense of the unknown. Becton mixes tone and texture to create images that suggest something we think we recognize but that remains elusive. Despite the mysterious, almost surreal, quality of Becton’s work, the overall sensation he creates is a harmonious melding of colors and visual elements. Becton starts with the familiar – the interior of a home, a landscape, the sea – then layers elements that he draws from other photographs he has taken to create abstract and representational images. Becton’s digital manipulation is not unique, but he is a pioneer in his field, having purchased one of Apple’s original Macintosh computers decades ago and taught himself Photoshop when Adobe released it commercially. This exhibition was organized by the Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine