This painting is an example of a recent group of small pieces I have been working on in the studio. I start these by laying down blocks of color. On and into this field, I draw (with the brush), usually layering two or three different drawings on top of each other. I edit and erase into the ground and the drawing, paring down the form into a linear, dimensional structure. The painting gets resolved when the color, light, and structure synthesize into one thing. It is generally geometric and abstract, but also exhibits much of its own history, as well as hints at representational elements.
In and around my studio time, I walk around the neighborhood in northwest Brooklyn. On the weekends, I often take day trips to the perimeters of the city, places like Jamaica Bay and Pelham Bay Park. During my breaks from thinking about my work, I inevitably come across things that come back to the studio with me. Signage, colored lights, odd things found on the street, and strange encounters with nature. I am interested in what filters into a mostly formal vocabulary in the studio. The process of drawing is a way to make sense of things I see and experience, and to help build the forms I use in my paintings.
Jason Karolak, 2014
(Images courtesy of the artist and McKenzie Fine Art)
Buddy of Work 