Jason Gringler, Untitled (Tim Hecker) – studio view – 42 x 48 inches 2011
Image courtesy of the artist
Jason Gringler is an enigmatic artist, originally from Canada and currently based in Brooklyn, New York where he has had a studio for several years. 2011 proved productive for Gringler in both exhibiting and making artwork as he was recently featured as a selected artist in the fordPROJECT group exhibition “Name. Date. Title.” in collaboration with BLACKLOTS, on view November 7th through December 21st, 2011 in New York. Fabrizio Affronti of Brand New Galley in Milan, posted a link to Jason’s interview with Ford on Facebook, which is how I became familiar with his work and in turn delighted to discover his current studio to be located in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Jason Gringler, (Hatred of Images) – 8.5 x 11 inches 2011
Image courtesy of the artist
In commencing upon a body of work, Jason first makes a series of collage drawings which serve as studies or diagrams for the larger pieces. The drawings are self contained works composed of various medium including cut photographs of the artists studio interior, paint, graphite and whatever else he grabs at the moment. The purpose is to arrive at an interesting composition that is both ripe and void of specific content.  It is a recycling of space that is in 360 degrees with a purpose of becoming two-dimensional. A strong focus is placed on geometry and the dissection of structured form. The collage is a quick notation, a reflection and absence of self, small in scale and immediately satisfying in communicative visual availability.
Jason Gringler, Studio installation view, 2011
Image courtesy of the artist.
At the heart of Jason Gringler’s work is a lyrical destruction. For his large pieces, the artist uses Plexiglas, spray paint, mirrors and tape. He makes paintings that are almost entirely void of paint. However the works are in an active dialogue with a history of mark making as recent as the Action Painters and yet makes a valuable notch in a contemporary abstract discussion as well. His work is both sculptural and flat. It’s compressed space that exists within a frame and is an organization of chaos. I asked the artist about music because while looking at the work I found myself thinking of audio composition and the way that sound dissects air. In 2005, Banks Violette exhibited the structural remains of a burned church at the Whitney Museum composed entirely of salt. The work was accompanied by a soundtrack, commissioned specifically for the piece by then post-imprisoned Norwegian black metal guitarist Snorre Ruch of Thorns. In the cracked and precisely placed pieces of broken mirrors and plastic Jason Gringler is a composer of space, a painters non-painter. In my mind’s eye or rather ear, the work, as if a cauldron of visual seduction conjured its own soundtrack. A melodic, if piercing scratch of intersecting chords disguised and presented as linear traces.
 Jason Gringler, Black Cross – studio view – 42 x 48 inches 2011
Image courtesy of the artist.

This past year, the artist was featured in several group shows and a solo exhibition titled September X at Galerie Stefan Ropke in Cologne, Germany. This particular solo was on view from September 9th-October 15th, 2011 and included work that thematically focused on the spatial division of the “X” within the formalized structure of each surface. From the gallery website on the subject of “X”:
Serving as a simulacrum of an expressive mark, it simultaneously becomes the subject and composition, referring to the supposed expressive nature of painting. It also alleviates the pressure of continually seeking new compositions and allows for a temporary focus on the production of the work. 
 
Every artist is on a journey that revolves around production, experimentation and expansion of practice. Jason Gringler is a contemporary artist who is doing all three and in the process, finding ways to metaphorically and actually engage with and reflect the viewer within the context and surface of his work. Merging paint, sculpture and a lyrical space-age mentality, he is one to watch for 2012. Stay tuned for upcoming solo exhibitions with Galerie Stefan Ropke at Volta NY in March 2012 and with Brand New Galley in Milan, Italy, September 2012. He will also be featured in Art Los Angeles Contemporary and VIP Art Fair in Milan with Brand New Gallery and in a three person exhibition at The Proposition in New York, March 2012 along with Kadar Brock and Jim Lee.
Jason Gringler, Galley Installation view, 2011
Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Stefan Ropke in Cologne, Germany
More soon!
xo