Mixed Media Paintings
JAC K C A S E R TA
2018
-
2021
J A C K C A S E R T A
Artios Gallery presents
JAC K CA S E R TA A complete book 2018 - 2021
NEW YORK
Copyright © 2021 by Artios Gallery, LLC All rights reserved.
"I'm not interested in 'abstracting' or taking things out or reducing painting to design, form, line, and color. I paint this way because I can keep putting more things in it - drama, anger, pain, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas about space. Through your eyes it again becomes an emotion or idea." - Willem de Kooning
Foreword One must face chaos to give birth to a star. -Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” Entropy is a term used for a concept in thermodynamics known as the ‘degree of disorder’ in a system. Often, the word shifts deeper into disarray, as society begins to recognize entropy as a gradual decline into chaos. Such a name has many applications in the history of human development, but none better than in the birth of Abstract Expressionism. Tumultuous, messy, and often downright manic, Abstract Expressionist art followed one of the most harrowing scars on the face of human existence: the Second World War. As the disturbance in the world grew, so did the disorder of human creative expression. Artists turned to increasingly inhuman-looking shapes and characters, eventually discarding the use of defined shapes altogether. Abstract Expressionism was facilitated by a total breakdown of the human spirit into its most raw, emotional form. Blood splattered across canvases in cherry red, holding no direct symbolism yet carrying everything the artists intended it to hold in the streaks across their paintings. Blocks of colors with blurred lines, almost like broken TV screens, blended meaninglessness with complete understanding. Tormented forms imposed their wills on one another, writhing and competing for the viewers’ attention as they slid across the canvas. These are the styles of the greats of Abstract Expressionism: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning, respectively. De Kooning once noted that “the attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view.” Such a sentiment is reflected in all Abstract Expressionism, where rules are nowhere to be seen. The rule-breakers themselves reveled in the legacy they created, glad to have brought about a revolution in art. Gradually, ordered forms emerged from the midst of the entropic streaks on the canvas. Neo-Expressionism, surfacing thirty years after the explosive entrance of Abstract Expressionism, aspired to replace the increasingly popular minimal and conceptual art forms. For Neo-Expressionists, simple lines and ideas trumping media were not enough. They brought human shapes and defined images back to art, albeit in their own way, with rough brush strokes and shocking, colorful contrasts. Slogans were written over and behind odd, stick-like figures with partially transparent faces, ribs, and hands. Jean-Michel Basquiat is most famous for these paintings, inspiring a whole generation of artists with his unique style. Thus, an increasing system of disarray and disorder turned to reveal some level of structure.
Jack Caserta is inspired in part by the Neo-Expressionist Basquiat and by Abstract Expressionist painters, including Pollock, de Kooning, and others. Although at the beginning of his artistic journey, Jack has already developed his own distinctive style characterized by paying close attention to texture, color, technics, and media to convey his emotions. The young artist’s works stretch across the styles, discarding the boundaries between the art forms he emulates. Take, for example, his Thanksgiving. Though the meaning behind this work is unclear (and Jack himself says that he prefers not to assign meaning as he believes that abstract art is better intuitively felt), the primarily solid, dark background forms a striking contrast to the bright red slaughter imposed through the Pollock-like streaks of paint. On the other hand, the lyrical mood of Bramble or Sunset is more reminiscent of de Kooning’s style, yet have Jack’s unmistakably unique signature in the choice of colors, stroke movements, and paint texture. The artist creates as if he composes a song, each brushstroke a note, each color combination a melody. It is not surprising that Jack loves to work with the music on, which he says inspires him. Following Jack’s manner of mixing styles, Trapped and Torment exhume Neo-Expressionism yet overlay it with abstract elements, submerging the viewer in self-doubt, contemplation, search for meaning. Misshapen heads, hands, and bodies scream from the canvas sometimes angrily, sometimes in despair, sometimes in ecstasy. The color pallet further defines the moods in the paintings. Jack’s message for his art, too, plays directly into the pure, passionate aspect of expressionism: “What I connect to most in life is the emotional side of things, the images, colors, brush strokes… and textured surfaces of my paintings represent the energy and emotions I experience.”
By Sonia Shuster Jack at his studio in Connecticut
About Jack "I never want to impose a way to interpret my art because I believe that abstract art is best felt intuitively rather than understood. I’m a mixed-media artist whose abstracts are inspired by the idea of not finding a universal form, but rather to achieve a form that is continually changing. I believe abstract art as having limitless possibilities; therefore, my canvas evolves with no pre-conceived idea of what the result will be. I explore and span abstract styles by combining color, texture, images, text, composition, and scale." - Jack Caserta Jack Caserta is an emerging artist originally from Connecticut, now living in Charleston, South Carolina. Formally trained in Art at the College of Charleston, SC, he now devotes full time to his artistic career. Jack developed a "pluralistic practice" working in di erent styles and mediums. His figurative and symbol-laden abstract works use oil and acrylic punctuated with graphic lines of pastel or Krink marker. By using multiple layers of color and coarse brushwork, Jack likes to explore how a line, a stroke, or a mass of bold color can evoke raw feelings. His process is intuitive, organic, and inventive. Jack says: "I'm constantly experimenting with textures and layers to convey flow & movement. I believe my abstract work is of an expressive language influenced by music, landscapes, stories, and sensations. I take a lot of inspiration from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Willem De Kooning, and Gerhard Richter, to name a few." Jack has participated in many local exhibitions. Most notable was Pequot Library's WET PAINT art show in 2018, where he won top honors and was awarded a month-long solo exhibition in Summer of 2019. His works were included in the 69th AONE Art Exhibition at Silvermine Gallery, CT, Fall, 2019. Jack's paintings are in private collections in South Carolina and Connecticut.
Gin & Juice oil, acrylic on canvas 60 x 36 inches (152,5 x 91,5 cm)
Bramble oil, acrylic, oil pastel on canvas 60 x 36 inches (152,5 x 91,5 cm)
Light at the End of the Tunnel oil, acrylic, oil pastel, spray paint on canvas 36 x 60 inches (91.5 x 152.5 cm)
Most Kings Get Their Head Cut O oil, oil sticks on canvas 60 x 30 inches (122 x 76 cm)
Faces oil, oil pastel on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
NR3C4 acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 inches (91.5 x 61 cm)
Females acrylic on canvas 40 x 40 inches (101.5 x 101.5 cm)
Thanksgiving acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Trapped acrylic, oil pastel on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Sunset acrylic, oil pastel on canvas 40 x 30 inches (101,5 x 76 cm)
The Herron oil, oil sticks on canvas 60 x 36 inches (152.5 x 91.5 cm)
The Wave acrylic on canvas 36 x 48 inches (91.5 x 122 cm)
B Culture acrylic, oil pastel on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Seven Faces oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Bonded acrylic, oil, oil pastel on wrapped in film canvas 60 x 30 inches (152.5 x 76 cm)
Acid Rain acrylic on canvas 60 x 30 inches (152.5 x 76 cm)
Torment acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Draining Gold acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 inches (91.5 x 61 cm)
Cryptic Contemplation acrylic on canvas 40 x 40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
FUCK I Love You acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
DonutBalloonBowtie
After the Storm acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Warrior acrylic on canvas 30 x 20 inches (76 x 50.8 cm)
Two Figures acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76 cm)
Rhapsody of a Dream acrylic, oil on canvas 60 x 36 inches (152.5 x 91.5 cm)
Icon oil, acrylic, oil pastel on canvas 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Curator: Elena Iosilevich Editor: Ellen Opman
Catalog cover: "Light at the End of the Tunnel" acrylic, oil, oil pastel, spray paint on canvas 36 x 60 inches (91.5 x 152.5 cm) Website: www.JackCaserta.com Email: casertaart@gmail.com
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Printed in Amsterdam