Catherine Yass

Catherine Yass is a distinguished artist known for her innovative approach to photography and film. 

Biography of Catherine Yass

Catherine Yass was born in 1963 in London, England. Her educational background includes an MFA from Goldsmiths College, London (1990), a BA from the Slade School of Art, University College London (1986), and studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, Germany (1984-1985).

Over the years, Yass has been recognized for her unique contributions to contemporary art, including being nominated for the Turner Prize (2002). Her major commissions include "Legacy" at The Supreme Court of England in London (2020), "Decommissioned" at The Jewish Community Centre of London (2013), "Rambert" for the Rambert Dance Company in England (2013), and "Split Sides" for Merce Cunningham at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York (2003). One of her recent projects, "Aeolian Piano" (2017), involved filming a suspended grand piano above the former BBC building.

She teaches photography at the Royal College of Art in London, where she shares her expertise with aspiring artists and photographers, nurturing their skills and fostering creative exploration in the field of visual arts.

Yass's work has been exhibited in numerous prestigious museums and galleries worldwide. Her solo shows include "The Swimmers" at the National Health Service in London (2022), "Falling Away" at Ambika P3 in London (2021), "Cadences: Works from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam and film by Catherine Yass" at Milton Keynes Gallery in Buckinghamshire (2014), "Lighthouse" at Galerie Lelong & Co. in New York (2012), "Lighthouse" at Alison Jacques Gallery in London (2012), and many more.

Additionally, she has participated in group exhibitions held at various venues, including the Museum of Art – Pudong, James Hockey Gallery, Kestle Barton Gallery, Mission Gallery, MK Gallery, and John Hansard Gallery, among others.

Currently, Catherine Yass lives and works in London. 

Catherine Yass's Art Style

Yass is renowned for her unique photographic and film-based artwork. Her distinctive approach involves manipulating her subjects by overlaying negatives and positives from her photographs, which she then translates into lightboxes, prints, and films, creating visually compelling compositions.

Her works delve into the interplay between physical and psychological spaces, examining how environments are constructed and perceived by those within them, with a focus on temporal duration. Employing her distinctive photographic method, she manipulates both exposure and film development, layering positive transparencies atop negatives. These resulting images are brought to life as lightboxes, prints, and films, showcasing richly colored, ethereal abstractions that capture the complexities of reality versus illusion and the interplay of presence and absence.