Jason Martin exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac

Jason Martin exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac
Convergence - The Folding of Korean Bojagi Wrapping - Seoul Fort Hill
2F, Fort Hill, 122-1, Dokseodang-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul - South Korea
24 February—16 April 2022

Do we find the spaces an extension of landscape or are these spaces stages of performance that have no engagement with perspectival space? I like to think neither can be denied, only simultaneously considered. 

— Jason Martin, 2022

Jason Martin’s new series of works on aluminium mark his return to oil painting with brushes, a method the artist has not used for the past decade. A new phase in his ongoing exploration of painterly possibilities, these recent works are based on repeating inward movements with the brush that converge at a central point. He likens this to a ‘merging of place and time’ or a ‘threshold encounter’, as well as drawing parallels with the Korean tradition of bojagi wrapping.

Jason Martin

Continuously experimenting with new materials and methods, Jason Martin often develops his own tools, such as the combs used to shape dense striations of pigment in previous works. Created using traditional brushes, his most recent paintings exhibit a lightness of touch and delicacy of tone that set them apart from the thick impasto and highly saturated colours of earlier series. The aluminium pictorial grounds capture and reflect light, lending the paintings their radiant luminosity. The artist creates his own natural pigments and experiments with different combinations of colours, as in Untitled (Caribbean blue / Viridian) or Untitled (Titanium white / Fluorescent orange). The prevalence of white-based tones in these works contributes to their subtlety and clarity of colour, which is further emphasised by the soft feathering of the brushstrokes.

Each work is structured by Jason Martin’s controlled, repeated brushstrokes that fold in towards a focal point at the heart of the painting. He describes this meditative act of convergence as bringing ‘outer movements into a suggested singularity’. In Renaissance art, the introduction of linear perspective resulted in compositions where all lines converge at a central vanishing point, creating the illusion of depth in figurative scenes. Jason Martin’s monochrome abstractions are informed by the traditions of figuration, a ‘paradox’ that he considers his ‘place of departure’. As he explains, ‘There is always a tension that I am challenged to identify in each work’, as ‘the spaces are neither imaginary nor depicted’.

Jason Martin, Untitled (Caribbean blue / Viridian), 2021, Oil on aluminium, 120 x 120 x 10 cm

The square format of Jason Martin’s aluminium grounds, as well as the inward motion of his brushwork, recalls the folding of cloth typical of bojagi. In this traditional Korean textile technique, square pieces of cloth are skilfully constructed from fabric scraps and used as wrappings for gifts, special occasions or rituals. As the artist recalls, his interest in bojagi dates back to his residency in Japan: ‘At least 25 years have passed since I was entrusted with the safekeeping of a Japanese tea master’s kimono. Yamada Sohen from Kamakura left me this bojagi-wrapped kimono in London, but he has not yet retrieved this formal garment and I have never opened it to see what is inside, as I could never repeat the tied bow. There is a mystery to this that I do not want to risk losing if I were to upset this very precise and dignified shelter for a historical garment.’

Structured by complex relationships between the framing edges, colour combinations and brushed lines, these works become a reflection on the act of painting itself. Every detail of the surface texture draws attention to the physicality of the implied gestures that have defined them. The sinuous curves of the artist’s sweeping brushstrokes suggest a sense of flowing, continuous movement that animates the pictorial surface, leading the eye in towards the centre where all lines converge. In this way, Jason Martin’s paintings become an imaginary space, a mental landscape, an abstracted and mesmeric focal point for contemplation.

About the artist

Jason Martin with one of his prominent works

In Jason Martin’s early works, while still a student at Goldsmiths in the 1990s, he manipulated striations of oil paint or acrylic gel on metal or Plexiglas grounds using a comb-like tool he created – a technique that he has refined throughout his career. This is used to create energetic ridges and furrows of pigment that can be read as extreme close-ups of a painterly brushstroke, drawing attention to the action and materiality of painting itself. His works are structurally varied, ranging from a thin glaze through which the metal ground gleams to sculptural reliefs with overlapping ridges and furrows.

Born in Jersey in the Channel Islands in 1970, Jason Martin lives and works between London and Portugal. He first came to prominence through his inclusion in the legendary 1997 exhibition Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, which established the Young British Artists (YBAs). In 2004, his work was included in the Monochrome exhibition at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, followed by major solo exhibitions at the CAC Málaga and Mönchehaus Museum, Goslar, Germany (2008); Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2009); and Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf, Germany (2016). A retrospective of his work from the past two decades was on view at SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen in 2017.

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About the author

Thomas has a university background in the UK and in Latin America, with studies in Languages and Humanities, Culture, Literature and Economics. He started his Asian experience as a publisher in Krabi in 2005. Thomas has been editing local newspapers and magazines in England, Spain and Thailand for more than fifteen years. He is currently working on several projects in Thailand and abroad. Apart from Thailand, Thomas has lived in Italy, England, Venezuela, Cuba, Spain and Bali. He spends most of his time in Asia. During the years Thomas has developed a great understanding of several Asian cultures and people. He is also working freelance, writing short travel stories and articles for travel magazines. Follow Thomas on www.asianitinerary.com

View all articles by Thomas Gennaro