Simple, regular structures of the everyday meet abstracted and disorienting elements in the latest series of paintings of New York based SomoS Artist-In-Residence Jameson Grant. His solo exhibition “Cobble Paintings” represents a casualist, personal reordering of historical painting tropes through the repeated depiction of set forms; in this case, the stones that shape and paved Berlin city streets.

The impetus informing “Cobble Paintings” began with wanderings through Berlin upon which Grant found cobblestone grids that reflected the rhythm of these aimless walks. As he stumbled upon these textures, structures and forms, Grant would photograph them, then later develop paintings through non-hierarchical observations of drawings, other paintings and observations outside the studio. Based on quotidian notations of light, texture, structure and form, Grant’s process results in an abstracted image that may be simultaneously perceived as a number of living and non-living things which appear in day-to-day routine.

Indeed, cobblestones have acted as the fixed, and fixated, structure from which Grant could develop his latest series of paintings. As in the case of Grant’s previous series “Twig Paintings,” cobblestones are simple objects that are part of the everyday, yet become repeated and depicted in a subtle, painterly manner that draws attention to the space between each painting. Similarly, cobblestones represent an element of the built and constructed that is also reflected in the artmaking of Grant himself. Providing structure to the streets, cobblestones are constant, yet also ruined by foot and vehicle traffic, worn by heat and rain, and then repaired in order to fill the gaps. In this sense, they are a solid structure that is both shifted and fluid, definite yet amorphous. Similarly, in “Cobble Paintings,” Grant examines the history of painting in a matter-of-fact way; as a set of forms, signs and symbols that are continually reordered in an attempt to try to find a new image. In any case, what shines throughout Grant’s solo exhibition is a sense of the thriving life of the familiar; an insistence on slowness within a rapidly shifting and destabilizing world.

Jameson Grant’s paintings seem casual at first glance, but a close inspection of his work reveals the studied eloquence of a devoted painter. By revisiting the same visual motifs time and again, he allows for improvisation and experimentation to drive his work. Each painting is like a brand new map of a familiar terrain.

 

About Jameson Grant

2014 Jameson Grant received his BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore. He has presented his work in the solo exhibition Oil Then Acrylic at the Transformer Gallery, Washington DC, in 2014; and took part in the group shows Studio Mixx, Subbasement Studio, Baltimore MD, curated by Fletcher Mackey, 2012, Juried UG Show, Decker Gallery, Baltimore MD, curated by Karyn Miller and Jack Livingston, 2012, Chromatics, Gallery 304, Baltimore MD, curated by Janet Olney, 2013, On The Mark, Middendorf Gallery, Baltimore MD, curated by Laura Beth Langley, 2014, Locally Sourced, American University Museum, Washington DC, 2014, Murica: A Patriotic Art Show, PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia PA, 2014, and Blushing, at the Ballroom Gallery, Baltimore MD, curated by Claire Felonis 2015. Grant was awarded the Trustee Grant, Maryland Institute College of Art, 2010.
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Opening: Tuesday, August 13^th, 6-9pm
Duration – August 14^th-17^th, Tuesday-Saturday 2-7 or by appointment
SomoS, Kottbusser Damm 95, 1.0G, 10967 Berlin (U8 – Schönleinstraße)

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