Jason Craighead’s first exhibition at K Contemporary reveals a painter inextricably linked physically and mentally to his practice. While his paintings are fundamentally abstract, he concedes vague references to craggy landscapes influenced by his travels to Morocco and Newfoundland. They are potential landscapes, but not quite. This is because Craighead’s paintings go beyond the literal to dwell in the metaphoric. He is mapping the greatest excursion of all – this thing called life.

Though very loose and expressionistic, Craighead’s work has a sense of gravity with forms suggesting horizons and miles traveled. While in Morocco, he was at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, and in Newfoundland, he was on the edge of North America. The cliffs, mountains, and oceans impressed him as he thought about nature and humans residing on a precipice. The thoughts weren’t grim, but honest observations of this moment where the dangerous and the beautiful coexist. He sensed that the natural world is reflecting the human, with its version of turmoil. This idea of being on the edge seeped into his work – the gnarly places found between fear and excitement can be the same places that ultimately allow you to feel safe. In this vein, Craighead’s paintings allow the viewer to hover on the edge of understanding. The artist shares that, for him, “everything starts on the floor to get dirty”. Before raising a brush or attaching canvas to the wall, he unfurls it on the floor and walks over it contemplatively. He is a part of the work from the beginning, and he never confronts a proverbially “blank canvas”. His approach parallels Eastern traditions in that he is in a state of flow with the painting and never seizes control. He is a willing participant, allowing things to emerge organically. If you look carefully, you'll detect footprints, dust, debris, wine spills, and the chi of Craighead’s life within the weave of the canvas. He considers this all a “calculated accident.” Within the paint are fragments of text from dictionaries and thesauruses. Craighead’s love of language underlies the mixed media in his work. He finds that text offers a chance to “run around a picture with your eyes and your brain.” But the text is not intended to be literal, nor is he searching for a precise word to telegraph an overarching idea. He considers the words as elements of the composition – a way to draw unconsciously with letters. Jennifer Berry, Director of K Contemporary, elaborates, “Jason muses that the most important thing between an audience and a painting is the space between the two. He doesn’t attempt to tell you something explicit or with great purpose but rather offers an invitation to think, feel, and experience. What you bring to each painting is what you get. Jason sets the example by bringing his whole self to each painting, so the viewer has access to it all. Each painting is a single piece of a greater creative process as much as it is a stand-alone entity.”