Jaq Chartier’s paintings explore scientific methods through experimentation with paint and process. All of her works are “tests” to discover something about materials and what they do. Inspired in part by images of DNA gel electrophoresis, Chartier investigates the migration of various stains through layers of paint and acrylic gels.
Her paintings and prints feature intimate views of materials as they react to each other, respond to light, and change with the passage of time, including notes written directly on the paintings. Through experimentation, observation and notation Chartier creates sensuous paintings that provide commentary on both the visual culture and everyday practice of scientific investigation by highlighting similarities between artistic and scientific practice.
Chartier’s paintings have been featured in major exhibitions including: Genipulation: Genetic Engineering and Manipulation in Contemporary Art, at CentrePasqueArt, Kunsthaus Centre d’art, Biel Bienne, Switzerland; Genesis – Die Kunst der Schöpfung (The Art of Creation), at Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland; Diagnose [Art]: Contemporary Art Reflecting Medicine, at the Kunst-Museum Ahlen, Germany; and Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, which traveled from the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, to the Berkeley Art Museum, Weisman Art Museum, and Block Museum of Art. Her paintings have been featured in books and publications including Molecular Aesthetics, by Peter Weibel & Ljiljana Fruk ed., Art+Science Now, by Stephen Wilson, and Art in the Age of Technoscience: Genetic Engineering, Robotics, and Artificial Life in Contemporary Art, by Ingeborg Reichle. Awards include an Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship, and PONCHO Special Recognition Award from the Seattle Art Museum’s Betty Bowen Committee.
