Jessica Cannon’s Cosmic Landscapes
At GAVLAK in West Palm Beach, the artist unveils a new body of work that intertwines the celestial and the terrestrial, inviting us into the liminal space where abstract and figurative painting converge.
Jessica Cannon: Eternal Geometries at GAVLAK, West Palm Beach. Courtesy the artist and GAVLAK.
Stepping into Jessica Cannon’s debut solo exhibition at GAVLAK Palm Beach, one is immediately struck by the sense of temporal flux and spatial ambiguity that permeates her new body of work. Eternal Geometries unfolds as a meditation on shifting landscapes and mutable forms, inviting viewers to question the boundaries between abstraction and representation.
Cannon’s paintings balance on the knife’s edge between the tangible and the ineffable. Her semi-abstract compositions evoke geological formations and celestial expanses, yet they resist being pinned down to any singular interpretation. At the heart of this indeterminacy lies the spiral, a recurring motif in her oeuvre. Here, the spiral acts as both a literal and metaphorical representation of instability—a form that simultaneously expands, contracts, and transcends its own boundaries. This motif underscores the exhibition’s central theme: the perpetual motion of the world and the transient nature of form.
Color plays a pivotal role in Cannon’s work, not just as a visual element but as a temporal and emotional force. Layers of iridescent pigments shimmer beneath intricate, lace-like patterns of paint, creating an interplay of light and color that evolves with the viewer’s perspective and the changing gallery light. This dynamic quality is most pronounced in Suspension (2024), a standout piece that marks Cannon’s foray into larger-scale painting. The expanded canvas provides a stage for her meticulous layering and subtle tonal shifts, allowing shapes and colors to breathe and transform over time.
Suspension, 2025, acrylic and iridescent pigments on linen, 72 x 120 inches (182.9 x 304.8 cm). Courtesy the artist and GAVLAK.
Cannon’s work finds its place within a lineage of female artists who have navigated the terrain between abstraction and representation, from Hilma af Klint to Agnes Pelton. However, her practice brings a contemporary feminist perspective to this dialogue. By intertwining meditative repetition with precise, intentional mark-making, Cannon challenges the traditional dichotomy between intuition and rationality. Her approach resists reductionist narratives, asserting instead a holistic mode of creation that is both cerebral and visceral.
This nuanced interplay of method and meaning is evident in the exhibition’s quieter moments. The lace-like patterns that ripple across her canvases evoke both natural fractals and the human touch, suggesting a meditative engagement with her materials. These intricate details reward close observation, immersing viewers in a world that feels at once vast and intimate.
While Cannon’s exploration of color and form is undeniably compelling, the exhibition’s success also lies in its ability to provoke broader questions about our place within an ever-changing world. By drawing us into her fluid, ever-shifting spaces, Cannon’s paintings encourage a reexamination of our material and historical orientations.
In Eternal Geometries, Cannon offers a body of work that is as thought-provoking as it is visually arresting. Through her exploration of form, color, and temporality, she not only engages with the enduring traditions of abstraction but also carves out a space that feels uniquely her own. It’s a promising debut at GAVLAK and a testament to her ability to navigate complexity with subtlety and precision.
Jessica Cannon: Eternal Geometries at GAVLAK, West Palm Beach. Courtesy the artist and GAVLAK
Jessica Cannon: Eternal Geometries is on view through March 1st at GAVLAK, West Palm Beach.
