Jason Karolak at Massimo Audiello
Jason Karolak, Untitled (P-0815), 2008, Oil on canvas, 85 x 76 inches
I had higher hopes for Jason Karolak’s show Rivers of the Same Mountain then were achieved even though the artist shows a clear investment in paint. To be sure, the artist handles the medium with great skill — within the darker sections of larger paintings such as Untitled (P-0807), the layers and visible flow of paint is extraordinarily seductive — but so many of the works build in completely predictable ways. Virtually every large painting begins with a dark bottom and lightens towards the top, almost inevitably, bringing the work to a level of brightness that exceeds the balance of the painting.
There’s some discussion in the press release about creating a visual force so strong the experience would bleed into other senses, particularly the auditory and the bodily. These are lofty ambitions but given the artist’s skill not wholly unattainable. Untitled (P-0815) [pictured above] comes closest to achieving this, its palette a little more restrained than other paintings. But the smaller pieces in this show undermine the larger body of work. Almost wholly unsuccessful, each of these paintings present an array of neatly arranged colors, functioning with a singular flat intensity. Needless to say, nothing my eyes saw made my ears respond nor any other part of my body.
The image of the painting is far more substantive & engaging than the critique. Are we to understand that paintings are supposed to be light at the top, AND at the bottom, therefore balanced?
oh come on. Just because I criticized the painting for beginning dark at the bottom and lightening towards the top doesn’t mean that I’m prescribing the inverse. That logic makes no sense whatsoever.
This work is completely formulaic and creatively bankrupt. I think the reviewer was actually too charitable!
I am curious why you expect that there should be more “lofty” means to express auditory and bodily experiences. Though the artist is using very familiar moves and forms, I see a clear imprint and unique experience. I think that the black ground offers a different capability of depth that is not really illusory or 2 dimensionally restricted. I enjoy the divergent actions in his work. Perhaps it can come off as relying too much on formalism and I doubt that the artist would deny this, but the color palette and forgivable, easily overlooked “accidents” say much about abstraction for me: there is too much argument over formalism and spontaneity that interrupts the pure sensual experience of painting.
I actually purchased one of his painting (it was a choice between the one pictured above and a different one) I love it and it brings me great joy. To me it’s like a great jazz improvisor, the improvised top is based on the more structured bottom. Everyone knows that great improvisation comes from a great knowledge of technique. Can you say Coltrane?