THE MISSION is pleased to present This Lemon is Not Yellow, an exhibition of recent works by Jeroen Nelemans. This Lemon is Not Yellow features two new series of light boxes constructed from materials found in the artist’s dissection of the digital image. Nelemans places colorless materials — such as Cellophane and acrylic — between polarizing filters that are backlit with an LED light panel. Light waves refract and bend through clear materials while polarizing filters block certain wavelengths. Investigating how we see and perceive color, Nelemans merges these material properties to create color-changing constructions encased within custom-made display cases. An opening reception will be held on Friday, September 11 from 6 to 8pm. The show continues through Saturday, October 24, 2015.

Nelemans’ reconstructed digital boxes are transformations of the familiar backlit surface that smartphones and tablets provide. Today’s digital screens invite us to touch, interact and experience our devices. Nelemans installation encourages a similar, visceral viewing experience. The to be Crystal Clear series — housing organic folded forms — is arranged on a table running the length of the gallery and the Between a Solid and Liquid Space series — showcasing the artist’s Modernist approach referencing geometric grid compositions — is installed on door-sized leaning panels. Similar to Robert Morris’ Minimalist approach to create presence through space and scale, Nelemans extends his exhibition off the gallery walls and creates a stage that allows us to confront and take part in his prismatic digital displays.

This Lemon is Not Yellow nods to the differing ways we experience color in digital and physical spaces…The yellow of a lemon is a result of subtractive light. The lemon absorbs wavelengths that come from a light source, reflecting back the yellow to our retinas. Computer screens, however, use additive light; we never see a real yellow on the screen, instead only witnessing a combination of red and green…Nelemans is invested in the ways that the screens trick our eyes, allowing an entire illusionistic, theatrical color performance to play out.
– Alicia Eler

JEROEN NELEMANS (b. 1974, Netherlands) received his BFA from Florida International University and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This Lemon is Not Yellow is Nelemans third solo exhibition at THE MISSION. He has shown at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, the DelaCruz Collection Contemporary Space in Miami, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Greece and the Elmhurst Art Museum in Chicago.

An essay by Alicia Eler, a Los Angeles-based art critic and culture journalist, will accompany the exhibition.

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Tags: Jeroen Nelemans, The Mission