JASON KAROLAK | Peregrine

“‘Peregrine’ or peregrination refers to a journey or travel. I was thinking about my residency in Senegal for this body of work – much of it made in Senegal and the newer ones, made in Brooklyn, which also have this time in mind. The idea of a trek to get there, and to go to this far away, to a different place is seated in this series of paintings. The drive from Dakar was nine hours through dirt roads and I was able to see different parts of the country. There were salt mines, arid landscapes, and interesting color combinations. Of course, peregrine also refers to a falcon, as I saw many of these swift and agile predators in Senegal and I often enjoy birding the US. The word peregrine can also refer to a foreigner, and this was something I was very aware of during my time in West Africa.

I drove through many small, traditional villages before landing in Sinthian, in the Tambacounda region. The title ‘Kaffrine’ comes from the name of the region to the west of Tambacounda. Other painting titles in the exhibition refer to birds, which loom throughout this work as do notions of visions and mirage-images are referenced in some titles.

I make abstract, geometric paintings as a way to process information and concrete experiences in the world. My observations provide material that is digested through an iterative drawing practice where forms are reworked and clarified in multiple stages becoming usable components or anchors within the paintings. I organize color into floating, illuminated structures, suggesting a kind of imagined or speculative architecture, set within a projected space. Stimulating, charged color is counter-balanced with a sense of quiet and air, as the paintings seek to create spaces for contemplation, restoration, and mystery.”  

– Jason Karolak

Jason Karolak earned a BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. He has been awarded residencies at the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program in Brooklyn, NY, the Saltonstall Arts Colony in Ithaca, NY, and the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation in Sinthian, Senegal. He received a Mellon Foundation Grant for his research on color and has recently been awarded an Individual Support Grant from the Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation. Karolak’s work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art in America, ARTnews, and Hyperallergic. Karolak is an Associate Professor at Drew University in Madison, NJ.