Jennifer Mason is an Auckland-born artist working in the medium of photography. She has studied photography in New York (2004); gained a BFA / BA from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland (2005); and has won numerous art awards for her work, which also feature in prominent New Zealand and U.S.A collections.
In her current work she alters and transforms photographs of interiors into new spaces that contain odd spatial transplants that manipulate the appearance of scale and perspective. Light, material, space, line and shadow are paramount in her work.
Her manipulation is far from subtle & is deliberately crude as we notice perspective lines that blatantly do not correlate, tonal gradations that contradict the available light and even unstitched pasting of images upon another so that you can see the rectangular edges of individual digital images. This is done in an attempt to draw attention to the formal qualities of Photoshop making them autonomous and to encourage experimentation.
Collections
Wallace Arts Trust collection.
Selected exhibitions ( * denotes solo show)
2011* St Paul Street Gallery 3: ‘New Spaces’
2011* Te Tuhi: Billboards: ‘Room at the end of the hall’
2010* Bledisloe Walkway Light Boxes: An Auckland Council Public Art Project.
2010* Suite Gallery: Wellington. ‘Spatial Disruptions’
2009* orex Gallery: Auckland ‘Everything you think is wrong’
2009 Auckland Art Fair
2008 The Physics Room: Christchurch. Third Artist's Film Festival.
2007 Roger Williams Contemporary Art Gallery: ‘Picnics and Revolutions’
Awards / scholarships
Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award: Finalist:2011
19th Annual Wallace Art Awards: Finalist: 2010
CoCA / Anthony Harper Art Award: Finalist: 2010
Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Award; Merit Award x2: 2009
Ilford Photographic Award Award: 2003
Mt Eden Young Artist Award: Sculpture / Video Category: 2003
Mt Eden Young Artist Award: Over all winner: 2002
Auckland Abroad Scholarships: UOA: 2004