Untitled #19 (from the series To Say It Isn't So)

Canadian artist Laura Letinsky takes a multidisciplinary approach across photography, porcelain, and textiles exploring notions of reality, material, “control, accidents, and contrivance” as the artist describes. She holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg in Canada and an MFA in Photography from Yale University’s School of Art. and has served as Professor in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Chicago since 1994. Her work exhibited internationally and has been published in monographs and catalogs. Letinsky is the recipient of numerous awards including the Maison Dora Maar, France; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

In Seeing is an Extension of Touch, her 2025 exhibition at MARCH, Letinsky investigates the way in which vision is rooted in the tactile sense; how our visual perception is an extension of touch as we probe the shapes and forms of the objects before us. Raw elements of still life compositions—an orange rind, macerated fruit, stained linens, a barely-sipped demi-tasse—are almost tangible, leaving the viewer with the perception of having just taken part in a meal or gathering with those who have just stepped away. Ceramic sculptures made while in residence in Jingdezhen, China give the sensation of tension through pleats, gentle folds, and the organic glazes that dissolve with into one another. In two and three dimensions alike, Letinsky explores notions of contrast, nearness, and the synesthesia of sight and touch.

SHOWS

Seeing is an Extension of Touch, January 23 - February 20, 2025