Jason Kowalski Shows at LewAllen Galleries For The First Time
Time & Location
About the Event
New to LewAllen Galleries’ roster of artists, Jason Kowalski is regarded for his reverential images of the American built landscape of the mid-20th century that he paints as it exists today: old bowling alleys, motels and their fading marquee signs, antique automobiles, abandoned filling stations, and sun-bleached roadside eateries. All are painted by Kowalski with meticulous realism and remarkable, unflinching detail, choosing not to shy away from evidence of the passage of
time. Instead, Kowalski conveys his subjects with a sense of veneration, drawing on memory and nostalgia to invoke the stories and romantic associations that we might have with the past.
An exhibition of new paintings by Kowalski, entitled Rural Grandeur, begins on Friday, October 8 and remains on view through November 13, 2021 (no reception).
Hidden within the mottled textures of Kowalski’s paintings is a trove of collaged materials—handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, faded photographs, vintage postcards, and other ephemera. For Kowalski, these found materials act both as elements of composition and as conduits for allusive or poetic meaning. When taken alongside his subjects, the element of collage invites the viewer to consider further the richness of history—as well as the
properties of memory, which help to bridge the present with the past.
Rather than memento mori, Kowalski’s scenes of the highway towns and rural communities of the American countryside evoke a spirit of resilience even as his architectural subjects erode and transform with age. According to Kowalski, “There is beauty in the undone, the abandoned...” and his affectionate treatment of these nearly forgotten
places gestures toward our shared sense of American memory. In so doing, his art also appeals to our sense of nostalgia—a feeling that hinges on both memory and our ability to form a sense of story.
Born in Boynton Beach, Florida Kowalski spent most of his childhood in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from the Laguna College of Art and Design in 2009. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and publications across the United States.
LewAllen Galleries, located in the Santa Fe Railyard Arts District at 1613 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico is open: Mon - Fri, 10 - 6; and Sat, 10 - 5
For more info: 505.988.3250
info@lewallengalleries.com