Nightscaping is a new series of paintings by Washington, D.C. based artist Erick Jackson influenced by Charles Schultz's Peanuts characters and the school of Romanticism. Drawing from his academic background (Rhode Island School of Design), his rock musician sensibility (Apes, Midnight Kids), and his lavish imagination, Jackson creates this new suite of paintings based on the techniques developed in his last exhibition All Night Flight, a series of 68 color pencil drawings. The paintings in Nightscaping continue this trajectory and were germinated during the blizzard of 2010, when much of the East Coast was blanketed in snow.
According to the artist, "my paintings begin in a sort of beautifully, apocalyptic land where the smoke, or in this case snow, clears and kids start poking their heads out to see what's going on." Ever inspired by the romantic notion that a gifted, perhaps misunderstood loner, creatively following the dictates of his inspiration rather than the mores of contemporary society, is to be revered and celebrated, Jackson marries his childhood memory with an imagined, other world.
The paintings are heavily influenced by Charlie Brown holiday specials, specifically The Great Pumpkin, "where kids are having a Halloween party in what looks like a bombed-out house." The paintings, according to Jackson, "are set in a pleasant world where parentless youth roam an endless playground created for their amusement. I try to imagine that I'm creating a set for an (as of yet) unmade movie. The locations are reoccurring places that I visit in dreams. All of it happens at night. Night equals the unknown where the possibilities are endless; things are out of focus, unclear and everything is easier on your eyes."
Jackson began painting 15 years ago first using a labor-intensive, complex and multi-brush stroke egg-tempera technique. Now, creating his own unique paint from gouache, wet pigment, water color, matte medium, and acrylics, Jackson experiments with levels of hyper color-saturation to create dreamy, otherworldly effects.
This is Jackson's first exhibition of works on canvas in several years and his first display of works on canvas at Civilian. (We're excited!) He went back to this timeless format because of its depth and texture and its flexibility in absorbing and holding paint. Prior to this, Jackson painted on wood panels, Cintra (a lightweight plastic based surface), and various heavy papers.
Erick Jackson graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. He work has been on exhibition at Civilian Art Projects, Transformer, and D.C. Arts Center in Washington, D.C. and Branch Gallery in North Carolina. Jackson's work will be included in Catalyst, WPA's 35th Anniversary Exhibition in November 2010 at the American University Museum. He has a forthcoming solo exhibition at Sala Diaz in San Antonio in 2011. His work is in several private collections.
September 10 - October 16, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, September 10, 7-9pm
Nightscaping is a new series of paintings by Washington, DC based artist Erick Jackson, influenced by Charles Schultz's Peanuts characters and the school of Romanticism. Drawing from his academic background (Rhode Island School of Design), his rock musician sensibility (Apes, Midnight Kids), and his lavish imagination, Jackson create this new suite of paintings that were germinated during the blizzard of 2010, when much of the East Coast was blanketed in snow.
