Jacques Roch
dal 9/2/2011 al 11/3/2011
Segnalato da
9/2/2011
Jacques Roch
Kim Foster Gallery, New York
Escalades. This new series of work uses cartoon screenprints rendered every which way to depict the challenges and absurdity of life. Stairways reference Jacob's ladder and its access to heaven or some mystical dimension, while skateboarding trees reference youth that naively glides throughout each canvas.
Escalades: Upward motion activated by the body in order to reach a higher plane. Madness and stupidity escalade, but there is a light at the top of the stairs.
Why so many stairways in my paintings?
And where are the trees going?
Because we have been climbing the same stairway
for years and with every step my dear
we are getting closer, yes closer.
- Jacques Roch 12.21.10
This new series of work titled ‘Escalades’ by Jacques Roch uses cartoon screenprints rendered every which way to depict the challenges and absurdity of life. Stairways reference Jacob’s ladder and its access to heaven or some mystical dimension, while skateboarding trees reference youth that naively glides throughout each canvas.
The seemingly endless stairways are a metaphor for our efforts to attain sheer bliss. You can keep climbing up the narrow steps, but can never quite reach the top. As in Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus, the absurdity of a man’s life is compared with the situation of Sisyphus from Greek mythology that is condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again.
Against a background of random brushy patches of acid-hued acrylic paint meant for our ocular pleasure, Jacques is commenting on the absurd and our attempt to access anything transcendental.
Image: Beyond the Milky Way, acrylic & screenprints, 40 x 40 inches
Reception: Thursday, February 10th, 6-8 pm
Kim Foster Gallery
529 West 20th Street - 1st Floor - New York
Open Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 6pm