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.
