Jason Pollen: Wounded/Healing

May 29 – July 10, 2011 THE BREATH OF CHANGE

For some artists a conversation with the viewer begins in a space more intimate than arm’s length. Their work requires you to get closer until you nearly touch the surface, scanning for minute shifts of color, texture, subtle layers, marks and gestures. Perhaps you may even be close enough to smell the material presence of the work, engaging in a sensory dance with the flattened space before you. Shifting your weight from one foot to another, your eyes dilate, blink, and electric currents pulse through the brain as you share physiological presence with an object dusted with the cells and thoughts of another.

Perhaps thoughts begin to flood your own imagination, gradually entering your consciousness as the rest of your senses await further stimuli. In such close proximity to Jason Pollen’s latest work one might sense, among other things, tension, in the form of pleated cloth, suture-like bindings, cotton fibers rubbed and stained with pigment, and stitched lines holding together surfaces frayed at their edges. Soon patterns begin to emerge, first as small clusters and clumps and then spreading out more broadly,

Image above: Artist Jason Pollen in his studio, 2011.

(Image courtesy Jeffrey Bruce.)

reaching and pulling compositions together into a gathering of loosened geometry. In some instances these surfaces seem barely contained as if pulling one thread might unwind the whole. This may not be incidental. Clearly these objects have been made by someone’s hand, someone who is giving form to thoughts both dark and illuminating, someone who has been through something.

In the blink of an eye life may be thrown out of equilibrium, altering our sense of self, our relationships, and our perception of the world around us. In the face of debilitation and loss we are often taught to conceal such personal tragedies behind an emotional camouflage of social etiquette so as not to burden those around us. Sometimes these seismic shifts are so deep and protracted, however, that we cannot help but exhibit a change. Sometimes the cosmic rug simply pulls itself back to reveal that which is not necessary to hide.

Image above: Jason Pollen, Arcosanti, 2011, silk, canvas, dye, painted, printed, fused stitched, 42” X 42”. (Image courtesy Jeffrey Bruce.)

Residing in this light of revelation is wounded / healing, a solo exhibition by Jason Pollen, Kansas City-based artist and recently retired Chair of the Fiber Department at the Kansas City Art Institute. Within this body of work Pollen considers the physical and emotional vulnerability inherent within the human condition and the miraculous and intentional journey toward healing, understanding and adaptation in the face of personal crisis and lasting change.

These works span the physical and emotional journey of one person overcoming a physical struggle (in this instance, extensive corrective back surgeries that nearly cost the artist his life and have left him with chronic disability) to articulate a vision of creativity that feels possessive of the power to heal. Beyond the classic narrative of suffering as a catalyst for creativity is clarity in the realization that the creative act allows us to retain a sense of personal dignity. Also revealed in this work is the lucidity of someone who has turned his back on the precipice and is firmly planted in his studio, drawing strength from vulnerability.

Image above: Jason Pollen,

Using his artwork as a vehicle for expressing his contemplation of both individual and collective mortality, Pollen addresses feelings of anxiety as well as a strong will to live and create through abstract and figurative works that exhibit a raw immediacy not found in his

Image above: Jason Pollen, Untitled Portraits, 2011, media variable, 12” x 12” each. (Image courtesy Jeffrey Bruce.)

past oeuvre. One thing becomes readily apparent when taking in the breadth of his new work — this is an artist who knows how to keep moving. Given his history as a dancer before becoming a visual artist, and his love of musical performance, a lyricism gradually begins to eat away at the darker edges of the work until bold, confident colors emerge.

Created first from bedside, then wheelchair, and finally in a return to his studio to prepare for this exhibition, these works evoke a determination and curiosity to explore material ideas at a pace that is undiminished, and each image pulses with an energy felt through dyed, stained, torn, and pierced fabric, stitches, and in some instances within the gaze of human onlookers. Direct, honest, and unblinking, Pollen takes us on a journey that is at once personal and universal … a journey from wounded to healing.

Image above: Jason Pollen, Freed Radicals (detail), 2010, felted wool on cotton canvas, dye, stitched, 71” X 34”. (Image courtesy Jeffrey Bruce.)

— Marcus Cain, Curator

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Jason Pollen currently lives and works in Kansas City, MO. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in painting at The City College of New York and has served on the faculties of the Royal College of Art in London, at Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design. He joined the Kansas City Art Institute faculty in the Fiber Department in 1983, where the focus of his teaching was on printing and working with dyes. He was appointed the Chair of the KCAI Fiber Department in 1995 and remained in the position until his retirement in 2010. Pollen exhibits his artwork internationally and is represented in several private and public collections. He has also designed textiles for dozens of fashion and home furnishings firms and regularly collaborates as scenic designer for the Kansas City Ballet. He was named Fellow by the American Crafts Council in 2006 and is President Emeritus of the Surface Design Association, an international consortium of artists and educators established in 1977.

May 29 – July 10, 2011 5500 West 123rd Street, Overland Park, KS 66209 Ph: 913.266.8413 | Fx: 913.345.2611 | www.kcjmca.org

Established in 1991 and celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011, the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art (KCJMCA) provides innovative art exhibitions and related programming that engage seniors and diverse audiences from all segments of our community to enrich lives and celebrate our common humanity through art. KCJMCA realizes this goal through a cooperative partnership with Village Shalom, an assisted living facility that houses KCJMCA’s Epsten Gallery and through partnerships with local, regional, and national institutions that participate in KCJMCA’s Museum Without Walls exhibition program.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Jason Pollen would like to acknowledge Marcus Cain for his invaluable assistance in organizing this exhibition and he would also like to acknowledge Pam and Gary Gradinger for their generous support of the project.

Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art wishes to thank Jason Pollen for his creative and educational contributions to Kansas City’s art community and for the wonderful works of art he has created especially for this exhibition. KCJMCA would also like to acknowledge Gary and Pam Gradinger for their generous support of this exhibition and catalogue brochure as well as Deedee King and Seth & Robyn Freiden for their specified donations towards the realization of this exhibition made during the 2010 UrbanSuburban Art Auction. KCJMCA also wishes to thank the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, Bank of America, H&R Block, Francis Family Foundation, the Lighton Foundation, UrbanSuburban Patrons and Artists, members of the Friends of KCJMCA, and Village Shalom for their ongoing support of our programs.

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Front cover/header image: Jason Pollen, Current Conditions (detail), 2010, silk, printed, stitched, 36” X 48”. (Image Courtesy Jeffrey Bruce.)

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