Facility and Cacophony of Color in the Paintings of Henry Jackson
The human form is deconstructed and transformed at the hands of artist of Henry Jackson. In his works, cacophonous fields of paint give way to what appear to be figures in motion. Each one a whirlwind of color, his paintings feature urgent mark-making, in effect articulating impressions of time and movement through slathered knife strokes of paint. Jackson captures the poetry of his medium and denies instant comprehension. His work asks the viewer to slow down and look with different eyes, digging into the core of their compositions as one grapples with their subject matter. Closer scrutiny of the artist’s works reveals a personal history worked and reworked, and teeming with contradiction and resolution.
Jackson’s paintings feature a wide array of palettes; muted greens and blue-grays are balanced with shocks of deep orange, golden yellow, and fire red. The mid-career works created by Willem de Kooning after his move to Long Island come to mind. Made predominantly with a combination of oil paint and cold wax, Jackson gives his works seductive, textured surface. His compositions are based on a central axis that is slightly skewed, creating both stability and energy. The artist’s suggestions of figuration occupy this convergent space, the nexuses of creation and destruction in the turning gyre of these rich chromatic tableaux.
“Henry Jackson: Halted in Transition” is on view at LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 27th–July 27th, 2014.
