What We See Behind our Eyes

Colorful abstract wall installation composed of hundreds of overlapping translucent diamond shapes arranged in a flowing pattern across a large white gallery wall.

Title: What We See Behind our Eyes

  • Title: What We See Behind our Eyes

  • Show Run:  Monday, July 13 – Thursday, Sept 24

  • Artist Talk and Closing Reception:  Thursday, Sept 24, 1-2pm

Artist: Ali Yager

Statement

This body of work explores the way we construct our experience of the world through seeing. Through drawing, painting, resin objects, and layered installations, I investigate perception using color, pattern, repetition, movement, and light. I’m fascinated by the idea that our senses perceive only a fraction of the information that surrounds us, and I use visual interference, repetition, and play to push that boundary.

Inspired by the quiet beauty of everyday life and the Minnesota landscape, I distill my observations through experimentation, intuition, and play. I love making things, following ideas that surprise me, and creating work that is fun to look at. Thousands of hand-drawn marks, geometric structures, and translucent layers accumulate through labor, transforming simple elements into complex visual experiences. Many of these works change as you move around them. Color vibrates, moiré patterns appear and disappear, and forms emerge through shifts in perspective, rewarding curiosity, slow looking, and movement through space.

Ali Yager earned her BFA in Studio Art (Drawing) from St. Cloud State University in 2007 and her MFA (Studio Art) from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2023. She teaches drawing and painting at St. Cloud State University and St. Cloud Technical & Community College while maintaining an active studio practice.