Jimmy Jalapeeno joked that
he "is an artist about whom little is known," at his talk
at D Berman Gallery. Facetious perhaps, however maybe he joked because
not only has it been a while since D Berman has presented an exhibition
of Jalapeeno's work, but also because he paints landscapes, which
historically have been underappreciated.
Don't be confused. Jalapeeno's
landscapes are absolutely contemporary and this latest series, titled,
"No One Place," are more multifaceted than one might expect.
He still shows off impressionist
brush stroke, brilliant use of color and strong sense of organization
and geometry to portray what appear to be Texas Hill Country scenes.
However, here the artist is testing the tension between real and
fake. These landscapes are nonspecific. Rather they are composites
of suggested memories and experiences of various places.
Rock formations, pastures,
tree lines and skies exist in ambiguous space with shifting perspectives.
Photographic compositional influences clearly can be detected, yet
these works are undoubtedly exercises in painting. Many if not most,
approach abstraction. Jalapeeno refers to his paintings as "matrices,"
enclosed, often rectangular, spaces where
equations are made and something origiinates. Functioning slightly
like simu-
lacrum, they seem thoroughly familiar, faintly strange and even
occasionally
disorienting.
- Erin Keever
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to previous page.
