Jaq Chartier: Variations

the vibe

Jaq Chartier Variations July 9–August 22, 2026 Opening reception: Thursday, July 9, 5:30–7:30 pm Dolby Chadwick Gallery is thrilled to announce Variations, an exhibition of new work by Jaq Chartier, on view from July 9 to August 22, 2026. Chartier approaches painting as a process of testing driven by a deep curiosity and a desire to remain “at the edge” of what she does not yet know. For Variations, she revisits the parameters that have shaped her work for decades, pushing them into new territory. Working flat on meticulously prepared panels, Chartier uses an eyedropper to apply custom inks and dyes in bands, grids, and loosely organic forms that recall laboratory test strips, aerial topographies, cellular growth, and other magnified natural systems without ever settling into direct representation. Layers of spray paint and acrylic resin alter the image further, reactivating color and causing it to spread or separate. Vivid and distinctly alchemical, her exquisitely chromatic paintings are records of materials in motion, with color acting as not only an optical but a physical and emotional force. In Lines with Turquoise & Gold, a luminous composition of repeating bands of saturated yellows and electric blues, lines dissolve, at intervals, into halos that appear to glow and vibrate against the white ground. The effect is both mesmerizing and meditative, recalling sound waves or atmospheric interference made visible. Moreover, the longer one looks, the less fixed the surfaces…