TACITA DEAN (British, born 1965): Fernweh, 2009. Gravure in 8 parts on Somerset White Satin 400g, 39 ½ x 46 ½ inches each, 90 ½ x 98 ½ inches framed. © Tacita Dean. Courtesy the artist, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris and Frith Street Gallery, London

The Norton Museum’s exhibition of work by Tacita Dean will focus exclusively on her “photo-based” artworks produced over the past two decades.  Born in Canterbury, England in 1965, and now based in Berlin, Dean initially studied to be painter. Now, the 16 mm film camera defines much of her artistic practice with the still camera image also playing an important role in her career.  Spare, sublime, and separated from conventional photographic practice, Dean’s photo-based works are nonetheless dependent upon the found and often authorless image. It is this two-fold impression of time and place embracing fact and fiction that pervades Dean’s work in the Norton exhibition.  With paint, drawings, or hand-written text added to these images, Dean distances herself from conventional photography while embracing the photographic image. The end result, like her films, is artwork that is as elusive as it is captivating.