Jason Line

SETTING THE SCENE

AN EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS

155A GALLERY 14-29 APRIL 2023

Accompanying text to Setting the Scene by Alice Chasey

‘Empty chairs – there are many, more will come.’

Vincent van Gogh [1]

Jason Line’s paintings predominately feature still lifes – collections of objects arranged on shelves and window sills; wooden chairs placed just so. These objects are not randomly positioned but carefully, even meticulously arranged, the spaces between them just as important as the pieces themselves. The dialogue between each shape, the silent conversations they share, is of utmost importance. 

‘The chair with its back, seat, arms, legs and feet resembles possibly the nearest inanimate object to a human being and can exude a powerful presence in the right light as well providing a wealth of pictorial possibilities.’ [2]

Furniture – chairs and tables, are placed by the artist like props for a play. They are set at precise angles, in conference with each other, working in pairs, and passing secrets between them. They are the inanimate characters in these paintings, following an unseen script. What’s not said is almost as important as what’s said in this work. It is the gaps between objects, in spaces, that matter here. Empty chairs and empty rooms are left blank for our own interpretation.

Take for example, Two Chairs Against the Light 2023 in which the chairs look like they have been left to hold their own conversation while their occupants have perhaps just got up and walked away. What secrets do they hold as they lean towards each other? What intimacies shared? How much have their borne witness to? Like props on a stage, they wait to be brought to life by their human inhabitants.

The interior of the room each object inhabits – be they pots, vases, bowls or chairs – is also key.  The walls, the floor, the grid like windows, all have their own story to tell. Space is key to Jason’s practice, whether this is space measured between the individual elements depicted on a plinth or the wider domestic space that comes into focus when the camera pans out.

Unlike for example, the domestic interiors of Johannes Vermeer, the figure isn’t central here, the spaces are mostly empty. As we know from Van Gogh who painted empty chairs and empty rooms as a repeated motif, ‘Throughout art history the empty chair is often associated with absence, loss or a stand-in for a particular person’. [3] The only human presence in Jason’s works are self portraits, the artist appearing in reflections and shadows, almost ghost like. Indeed, shadows are everywhere – they fall from vases, cups, and bowls.

In Studio at Night 2022 a white Lloyd Loom chair with a blush pink cushion, is echoed in the pink book placed on the window sill. The figure of the artist can just be made out in reflection in the bottom left pane of glass, a shadowy presence who becomes almost abstract as he stands painting at the easel. In Studio Interior with Yellow Chair and Mirror 2023, he is there again, a mirror image, a dark liminal figure.

There are reflections to be found everywhere in Jason’s work: in window panes, in mirrors, in the glass bottles and vases arranged on a shelf, in a small glass of water. They are in the open windows of the studio setting, vast panes of glass providing a natural light source, to spotlight and highlight the objects in the room. There is mystery here. There is quiet and stillness. But any melancholy is shot through with pops of colour. Pinks, greens, and the ubiquitous yellow chair who becomes a character in his own right, the lead character of this exhibition, one might say.

© Alice Chasey 2023

Notes

1. Quoted in Carol Jacobi ed., Van Gogh in Britain, exh.cat, Tate 2019, p.91.

1. Jason Line, 2023.

1. Ibid.

SETTING THE SCENE

Artist’s Statement

The still life has long been the main focus of my work and I continue to explore the arrangement of objects in a myriad of ways, whether it’s a single object perched on a plinth, or many objects crowded together either on a shelf or on the floor, against the light or under a spotlight. However, in much of the new work in this exhibition, the focus has widened to reveal more of the interior of the room; the floor, walls, window and furniture, inviting the viewer, not only to look and touch but also walk in and around the space as well. 

The chair in particular features regularly in these paintings, often taking centre stage either alone or accompanied by a table or another chair. The chair with its back, seat, arms, legs and feet resembles possibly the nearest inanimate object to a human being and can exude a powerful presence in the right light as well providing a wealth of pictorial possibilities.  In some of the works, the chair may appear mundane in it’s simplicity but carefully placing a round seated bentwood chair next to a hard, square seated chair for instance, might be all that’s needed to create a spark of interest or present an air of mystery, however subtle. 

Throughout art history, the empty chair has often been associated with absence, loss or a stand-in for a particular person: ‘Vincent Van Gogh’s Chair’ and the empty chair in the foreground of Vermeer’s ‘Lady at the Virginal’ being prime examples.

The studio window also features in these paintings offering a backdrop to these arrangements; a backdrop that changes continually throughout the year with the passing seasons, creating mood as well as a sense of space. Like the chair, it is also highly symbolic and has been used in art prodigiously, particularly in religious iconography to signal a way through to a world beyond. 

However, even though themes and ideas may formulate within my work, I do not set out to make a work from any preconceived idea or personal narrative. My belief is that if there’s anything of real value to be expressed, it will come naturally from the act of looking, intuitive placement and finding a relationship and tension between forms, so that every component is integral to the other and to the whole.

.

STILL LIFES FROM THE STUDIO

An exhibition at MARCH, San Francisco USA , April 12- 10 June 2021

Over the last twenty years the still-life has slowly overtaken the human figure and head to become the main focus of my work. Brought about I suppose by not always being able to afford a model or relying on a willing friend to paint, so instead what was around me in the studio whether it was a chair, a table or an old pot became my models. Following in the footsteps of past still-life painters, of truthfully rendering the subject as much as possible by really analysing the texture of a lemon say or capturing the transparency of glass became important . Over the years , objects of all sizes and shapes soon accumulated in the studio: some just on their own, quiet and contemplative, some may comprise of a small group of two or three, while others may merge as in  the ‘Crowded Space’ series of drawings to form a crowd, either on a table top, a chair or sprawled out on the studio floor, carrying a level of ambiguity resembling either curious urban cityscapes, crowds of spectators pushing and jostling for position or actors and performers moving around on a stage.

The recent paintings seen at MARCH continue with the theme of the still life but the objects are placed less randomly and instead some kind of order has taken place.’All Blues’ for example ,the predominately blue objects are carefully placed next to each other in a row with the spaces between being as important as the object themselves, like soldiers at attention or notes on a sheet of music. Again this formal group is seen again on the studio window sill as in ‘Summer Arrangement’, ‘Bottles and Buildings’ and Autumn Arrangement with the light behind creating a certain drama as well as the window and view providing a back drop of the differing moods of the seasons. ‘Three Green Bottles’ again are neatly arranged but this time on a plinth giving the bottles a level of importance and forcing the viewer to look carefully. The recent works have also started to include the surrounding interior as in ’Yellow Chair with letter’ and ‘Yellow Chair against a mirror’ inviting the viewer to not only study the objects but asking the viewer to walk round them as well. 

In the end, what is vitally important in all my work , whether it’s a scene of serenity or chaos , the object and arrangement is always carefully examined with a particular focus on the relationship and tension between forms so that every component is integral to the other and to the whole.

Method

Whatever the subject working directly from observation has been an importance part of my practice. The simple act of looking hard at what’s in front of me, taking in the form, the colour the texture and responding with marks that are intuitively made with charcoal or paint is what is important. The process is one of adding and taking away, scraping back and reapplying. Adjustments to both the arrangement and the painting continue endlessly until some kind of balance and harmony are achieved.

THE JACKDAW

The following piece is a description of my practice written for the independent art magazine The Jackdaw . Published April 2020.

‘I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged’ writes Peter Brook at the beginning of his seminal book The Empty Space’. Like a theatre director, I too endeavour to make an act of theatre. First I set the stage. In this case the stage is a piece of painted plywood approximately two by three feet, upon which a ceramic object with cylindrical bottom and long long neck is placed in the foreground. As it is solid and robust, I feel it will serve well as a kind of corner stone to the whole composition.

Next I choose an antique rusty metal oil can and place it further back but towards centre stage. It is characterful with coned body and comical spout. A number of objects are then placed next to it but are quickly abandoned until at last a green square bottle with chipped rim is placed; the contrast between aged rust and the green glass immediately sets up a lively interplay.

This encounter might be enough but the scale of the canvas demands more and another object is introduced. This time it’s a bluish transparent plastic Evian bottle: it reminds me of the tall glass skyscrapers that now puncture the London skyline. Shimmering and imperious, it becomes the pivot of the composition. I decide though that something is still lacking and I place a small glass tucked in behind the bottle. Although it hides in the shadows like a shy child, I feel it creates enough interest for the eye to be momentarily intrigued without being distracted completely from what’s going on centre stage.

This theatre starts to look promising and from here I might proceed with making a separate drawing first to help decide the overall composition and the size and shape of the canvas. All work is done from careful observation and  whether I’m drawing of painting, its through looking and feeling the subject that intuitively creates the appropriate mark. The process is one of adding and taking away, scraping back and reapplying. Adjustments to both the arrangement and the painting will continue until some kind of conclusion is reached.

This ‘stage’ or arrangement could be just an object on a plinth: a single lemon for instance , displayed like a museum exhibit for all the world to see. Or it could be the studio floor, where a cacophony of mismatched objects of differing characteristics sprawl out, seemingly pushing and jostling for position. ‘In the Round’ shows a large round table top place d on the floor. In ‘All Blues’ however the scene is more sedate where each form is confined to their own space in a row like notes on a sheet of music.

However, whatever the painting is trying to express, whether its a  scene of serenity or utter chaos, the underlying structure remains the same. The aim is to find a way so that every component is integral to the other and to the whole, otherwise everything will inevitably fall apart.

MONOCHROME

An exhibition of drawings at 155A Gallery, London 2019

Whatever the subject matter, drawing has always played an integral part in my painting practice. As my work is largely based on observation,it is not only a quick and effective way of putting down ideas, whether as a preliminary drawing for a painting or simply as a work in itself, it also provides a way of exploring and getting to know the subject. It’s through looking and feeling the subject that intuitively creates the appropriate mark. Whereas pencil is sometimes used for its precision, charcoal is favoured more, lending itself best to express an emotional response to the subject.

The works in this show are a selected few that have been made over the last fifteen years mainly of objects arranged on either a table, the floor or a plinth, each one is carefully chosen and placed together, until some kind of relationship is reached. Some are just on their own, quiet and contemplative, only the table top for company; some may comprise of a small party of two or three, while others form a crowd as in the ‘The Crowded Space’ series. Although these arrangements can be seen simply as a well balanced array of mismatch objects of differing characteristics, they can also carry a level of ambiguity resembling either curious urban cityscapes, crowds of spectators pushing and jostling for position or as performers moving around on some kind of stage.

The recent drawings of objects lined up on a window ledge have returned to a more ordered and less cluttered world. The light behind making sure some kind of harmony and unity is instilled amongst the ranks.

‘A LADY STANDING AT THE VIRGINAL’ BY JOHANNES VERMEER

A short essay written for The Beverley Street Studio School, Staunton, Virginia, USA, October 2021.

The National Gallery in London houses many works of art that I have come to know and love over the course of my life including Piero Della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ, Leonardo’s cartoon and Rembrandt’s self portrait as a sixty-three year old man.There are also two paintings by Vermeer, one of which is ‘A Lady Seated at the Virginal’, the other is ‘A Lady Standing at the Virginal’. It is however the latter that has always held more of a fascination for me.

The painting is situated in a room along with a number of paintings by Vermeer’s contemporaries including Pieter de Hooch, Jan steen , Gerard ter Borch and Gabriel Metsu . Mostly are works about love and music, a favourite theme of the time. They’re often slightly bawdy, good humoured scenes with a comical looking dog added for good measure. However with Vermeer’s standing lady, something different is going on. We see a woman standing alone in a room, her eyes fixed upon us while playing the virginal. There are three paintings: two on the wall and the other a decorative panel attached to the virginal. In the foreground is an empty blue chair. What is so immediately striking is the severity and simplicity of the composition.The painting consists mainly of strong hard horizontal and verticals that make up a basic grid like structure creating geometric shapes of squares and rectangles consisting primarily of three tones of light, half tone and dark, punctuated with sections of carefully positioned blues and golds. These are often emphasised in some places by black outlines reminiscent of another Dutch artist, although much later, Piet Mondrian. The strong geometry which features in many of his paintings, is seen throughout the painting including the vertical geometrical looking folds in her shimmering gold dress resembling the hard fluting of a Greek column. The only other soft lines that occur are in the oval shape of her blue and white blouse, at the very centre of the painting echoing the sky detail in all the landscape paintings above her. However what really balances the somewhat dominant hard edges are the exquisite and subtle shadows that are cast from the light of the window onto the wall providing a certain warmth to the work. There maybe very few curves in this painting but it’s the shadows that also help create a satisfying spiral within the composition. Starting from the eye of the lady, we are led anticlockwise, down the arm through her hands on the keyboard of the virginal, up to the paintings ,then down the window, before sweeping around along the strong angle of the shadows pointing you to the poignant looking empty blue chair.

The other painting in the gallery, ‘A Lady Seated at the Virginal’ is about earthly or profane love. It is set at night and on the wall is a painting ‘The Procuress’ by Dirck Van Baburen. In the corner is a viola da gamba, the bow thrust suggestively in the bridge. The symbolism is obvious. ‘The Lady Standing at the Virginal’ however appears to be  about a different kind of love.  Light pours through the window, filling the whole room. The air one feels is better and healthier emphasised by the idyllic landscape paintings that adorn the walls. There is an air of mystery about the lady, accentuated by the fact her head is in shadow, blending into the painting behind her of Cupid, the god of love . Cupid is also the obedient servant of the goddess of Love, Venus and are often portrayed together. Vermeer, to my mind, has represented her here as the lady at the virginal. This is a painting about love in its purest and sacred form. The blue chair may well be intended for someone specific but perhaps it is we, the viewer that is being invited to sit down to join her.

The painting has continually appealed to me over the years and it has certainly influenced my work.  I always enjoy the clarity of the composition in this painting, the restraint of colour , the big abstract shapes that work so harmoniously together. What makes this a great work is he manages to fuse the formal aspects so seamlessly with the underlying message. He somehow provides just enough, any more you feel and the painting would lose its extraordinary power and depth of meaning.