Jesse Devost | Synaptic Chemistry

Feb 20

Jesse Devost
Synaptic Chemistry

FOCUS GALLERY
March 7 - 29, 2025
Opening Reception: March 7, 5-7pm

The synapse is the communication point between neurons or cells in the brain. Often, synaptic communication occurs via chemical transmission, which is an exchange of neurotransmitters or more fundamentally, matter.

Memories in our brains may seem like non-physical constructs but they can be actually supported by an exchange of physical matter. To me, that means memories are tangible things.

This exhibition explores the concept of physical matter constructing our memories and my attempts to illustrate the interface of matter, memory and imagery.

A reason why I wanted to explore this concept was the realization of my efforts to hold onto memories as I move increasingly distant from the events that created them.

I believe that a memory is a story we have told ourselves about a past experience and not necessarily a replication of the event itself. It’s something we have constructed in our minds, through our individual experience. Over time, memories of past events have become more obscured or removed from the original recollection of an event. Perhaps it is the matter breaking down or becoming mixed with others.

The concepts are shown by printing collaged/tiled cyanotype photography onto wood panels and applying spray paint to illustrate disruption to the memory recall process. The intent is to communicate my experience in piecing together recalled images and events, fighting with the noise of time.

Cyanotype photography is a cameraless technique that involves laying an object or transparency on a coated medium (this this case, wood) with a solution of iron salts before exposing it to UV light. Cyanotype on wood is not a common technique, it took weeks of experimentation to find a method of making a satisfactory print (see test samples).

JESSE DEVOST
My paintings and photographs tend to explore two different areas:

• a geographical sense of place; and,
• fleeting images by the human mind.

My techniques and motivation is to make paintings or prints that defy the traditional methods of each medium. I do not use brushes (instead using squeegees, printing, string, stamps, spraypaint and multi-media overlays) and do not often paint on canvas, instead, exploring vellum, vinyl and overlapping paintings. My photographs often use antiquated developing methods and dismantling of camera setups to more directly capture and make physical prints of images.

I have a degree and professional background in Geography and spent 10 years working as a cartographer, producing maps of human activity and the natural environment. My view of the world and of human behaviour is seen through a geographical lens. Pursuing art has been the purest way I can communicate the way I see and imagine the world that we live in.

I am also interested on how our minds process, construct and recall images – my efforts to remember a place or situation gets more difficult as time passes, or if I try to recall an image too often.

My journey as an artist has gone deeper into the fundamentals of process and capture, working increasingly towards more manual and rudimentary methods to create imagery and interpretations, capturing a thought or memory in the most fundamental and direct way possible.

I have lived and worked in Whitehorse since 1998, grew up in the woods of Hornby Island BC, and I have travelled to many places – remotely within the territory and internationally, mostly in Asia and the south Pacific. Observing different locations and trying to remember them is the primary inspiration behind my work.