Local ochre from Provence and botanical ink on paper
Approx. 12" x 16" sizes vary
Jason is a friend I travel with; that says it all. We met at KIOSK in 2008, talking and immediately laughing, we always laugh together. He was a shopper with much to say about objects and I was a seller with much to say about objects; it was a natural fit. Soon, he was showing part of his plastic bag collection at KIOSK. (Later, he made a book of them which I hope will be produced.) He is completely himself and he has a wonderful eye. Beyond objects he also is an artist, with a practice I envy. When he comes to visit us in France he goes into the studio and works and works, concentration. We meet for meals and the occasional outing, most likely to vide greniers. He works, while I'm procrastinating and every day he comes with something new. Life's desires should always take precedence and he shows me how. Through him I have come to understand better, and without guilt, that the life of a sincere artist is equal hard work with the intense, burning, constant, completely, never-ending, desire to create.
Jason painted the Stink Bug series while visiting us in Provence. He recently explained all of his work begins with a single observation of nature. Using a moment in time he circles around, contemplating, shifting color, in phases. Hovering in variation and repetition allows him to let go of the actual subject to focus more on the color and the material, his deeper interest. Oddly enough the day he sent me images of these works I found a stink bug in our garden and upsettingly killed it as I understand them to be invasive. These may well indeed be the final portraits just before the death. I felt so bad at the time. There may have been a reason. Superstar.