At first glance, the hushed intimacy of Jess T. Dugan’s portraits might seem ill-suited to [CONTAINER]’s soaring, two-story atrium, an adjunct to Turner Carroll’s long-established Canyon Road flagship. Since its inception a year ago, [CONTAINER] has played host to sprawling sculptural and new-media shows, most recently Matt King’s phantasmagorical “Becoming Light,” whose Meow Wolf-themed exhibition design had no problem filling the cavernous inner courtyard and mezzanine. A judiciously tasteful install, however, has transformed the gestalt. The gallery feels compact, even cozy, while still fully utilizing the ambitious 20-by-40-foot entry wall. That wall has been painted a calming charcoal gray, subtly grounding ten of Dugan’s photographic prints, installed in an irregular pattern, recalling the casual offhandedness of a scrapbook.
Jess T. Dugan, "I Want You to Know My Story"
Richard Speer, VAS Visual Art eNewsletter, December 16, 2023