Not only a gentle bringing-forth
On Saturday January 10 Jón Óskar opened an exhibition at Sævar Karl’s new gallery in the centre of Reykjavík. The exhibition featured a series of recent works that Jón Óskar had produced in 1997, as well a several new prints. These new works underline his constant striving to test the limits of his media, to carry painting to and even past the limit of what has hitherto been thought admissible or possible.
The background image in all the works is the same and is well known from history, literature, mythology and theatre – as well as from the visual arts. It is the clown Harlequin or Arlecchino – Pierrot, if you’re French – whose origins reach deep into Europe’s history and even into the spirit world where he was thought to cavort with goblins and fairies. But, as before, it is in the execution rather than in the subject that we must seek the true import of Jón Óskar’s work. There we will also see how they confirm the thought that has been so evident in his paintings and in his photographic work in recent years.
In producing the paintings in the current exhibition Jón Óskar has revealed a repeating process of creation and destruction, collapse and repair. Beginning with the simple background image he works the surface of the painting – a solid wood base – with caustic varnishes and sharpened power tools, rendering the original image almost beyond repair. The next phase in the process is repair, executed with putty and whatever other appropriate industrial materials suggest themselves. The final result is a painting that has already been through the grind, even before it is exposed to the audience and the critics – a painting that carries scars and can testify to the fact that the creative process is not as straightforward as many would like to belief. It involves not only a gentle bringing-forth, but also destruction and even a degree of violence.