unraveling/becoming

Jessica Loving’s new body of work is borne of a deeply personal unraveling and the quiet becoming that followed. Created during the end of a 24-year partnership, these pieces hold space for solitude, rupture, and transformation. This collection is a visual poem about how she deconstructed her life in order to rebuild it.

Over the course of a year, Loving began peeling back the onion-like layers of divorce. She painted through sharp, emotional moments, often alone, late at night at her studio in Evergreen, Colo. Loving dismantled her wedding gown, laying its perfectly preserved form in the rain before cutting it apart. The remnants remained in a pile in the center of her studio, walked on and lived with, and the dress’ remains became part of many of the works. Lines from Loving’s wedding vows were written on most of the painting’s sides, wiped away with a remnant of her gown. One painting holds her wedding ring within its layered fabric.

These gestures were both symbolic and literal; holding space for grief, transformation and ultimately, the rebuilding of oneself. This raw and emotional body of work resulted in 18 new works that excavate her relationship’s end and explore her personal evolution.