At first glance, Janenne Eaton’s show ‘Angle of Head’ at Silvershot is a luscious, seductive affair. If this were a night at the theatre, here is how it would unfold: black tuxedos brushing up against silky taffeta, hush and expectation in the air. The giant red curtain parts. The night sky is filled with stars. The location: Nowheresville. The actors: Nobodies. The plot, or rather, the paint, begins to thicken…
Janenne Eaton’s dedicated and methodical practice has resulted in great technical flair; however, here the vast installation of giant banners, and large, glossy works on canvas, sets the scene for an exploration of much bigger issues. Time is of the essence here. Eaton is interested in the cultural shift towards thinking about time, particularly in light of media and new technology, and its impact on humanity. She employs layered, painted grids to evoke a speedy digital age, but because she works precisely, and by hand, it evolves at a snail’s pace. In this contemplative space, the digital becomes a metaphor for a vital communication breakdown where words, meanings, history and experience cross over each other, blast out, fade away and intersect in a high velocity, disconnected and dangerous way. If Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie was a musical and energised grid evoking the atmosphere of downtown New York, Eaton’s ‘Angle of Head’ goes into a darker, less charted terrain.
Each painting in ‘Angle of Head’ begins with the careful application of a smooth layer of high shine (usually black) enamel paint. Eaton builds on this slippery surface by creating layers of gridded white dots and squares. Some are applied with stencils, others are tiny spots sprayed or painted by hand. These