Pairing sculpture with painting, [Jason] Martin has effectively created works that one can’t help but get right up next to. Nose-to-drip with the cloth-covered aluminum panels, part of the work’s appeal comes in the (almost uncomfortably) close examination of it; look inside the cracks to see what other colors lie beneath the surface, try to feel the hardened sprayed-on color with your eyes. The heavily-applied paste medium in Dolomie—positioned in a smaller gallery space just off of the main drag—looks like the the tragedy of a cake set to rest for hours in the sun; the drips of paint, suspended from the edge of the aluminum sheet are nothing if not precarious. In a nuanced blend of pastel blue, lavender and yellow tones, the Dolomie palette, like that of the majority of the works in Counterfeit, lends an ethereal quality to the painting. Its airiness is juxtaposed with the weight of the materials and media used to make the work, as well as the effort with which Martin dragged his fingers through the mounds of applied paste to make his mark. That is one of the things most striking about these works; how Martin manages to make something that looks labored—pulled, stretched, raked—look graceful, fluid.
Jason Martin: Counterfeit is on view through May 14, 2016. More details here.
IMAGE: Jason Martin, Dolomie, 2015, mixed media on aluminum, 80 ¼ x 96 ¾ x 8 in. (203.8 x 245.7 x 20.3 cm)