JASON MASON

Undercurrents

On view October 9 – November 7, 2021

Jason Mason’s three paintings in Undercurrents demonstrate the precision, the technical skill, and the intelligence of a painter who has been working at an accomplished level for decades.

In Hammers and Hatchets of the Squall and The Red Sea Clamp, tools and implements float before angrily churning seas and tempestuous, dark grey skies. Distended waves crash, frothing behind objects that are out-of-place and beyond placement.

Taking these two compositions to represent space literally is futile. In such a scene, what possible use could we find for a handsome red clamp? Drowning at sea, a few nice pin hammers and axes would be more likely to infuriate than aid. Metaphorically, we are left with the irony of misplaced “fitness” and “scale,” a wry juxtaposition of object and environment, and the frustrating non-utility of objects that are very often useful, in many other contexts.

The more plausibly imagined sight of styrofoam and plastic in Trash Wave #2 is also more tragic. The immortality of a happy-faced plastic bag that serves nothing and no one over the vast majority of its centuries-long lifespan is disquieting to contemplate. Mason suggests the message may never be absorbed. Instead, the bag makes its way to kill a sea turtle, who reads “THANK YOU — HAVE A NICE DAY!”

Through these works — playful, and dead serious — Mason reflects obliquely on what purpose is. His paintings present us with capably observed riddles that are worked out, and played out, as objects themselves.

Mason reminds us of the paradox that while we may not need paintings, their own purpose is never all that hard to discern. They are nice to have, to look at, to think about; they get us through stormy weather.

Jason Mason was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1971. He is a self-taught artist who studied under Ed Ruscha for many years. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the US and Asia. Mason has had recent exhibitions at The Lodge, Los Angeles, CA; The Hub Gallery, Los Angeles CA; Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.