In these series of new paintings and works on paper, the notion of space begins immediately with almost everything starting on Craighead’s studio floor to allow for what he refers to as “proper seasoning”, meaning while he is working on pieces that are pinned to the wall, he is actively walking, dripping, and spilling on the canvases and sheets of paper still located on the floor.
The artist reveals this to be very deliberate and personal process, which “allows for accident and mishap to become a natural collaborator” and, “is, in itself, evidence of process, of action…of me.” When a piece finally moves to the wall it is then shaped and formed with additive and reductive layers of drawing, painting, and collage, until the elements fall into a striking composition of gravity and space.
Jason Craighead (b. 1971, Murfreesboro, TN) lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina. His works have been placed into many significant national and international private and corporate collections. Craighead just had his first major solo museum exhibition, Threshold, at CAM Raleigh, NC in 2018.