Fri 9th February
In his third solo exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art, painter Jason Brooks unveils his largest ever show for the gallery and the first time they have shown the work of one artist across both floors of its exhibition space. Such a privilege does not come without good reason, and Brooks, who emerged in the 1990’s as a YBA latecomer, is fully deserving of the accolade. Splitting his time between his Kensington loft studio and Gloucestershire home, his tireless work ethic in the run up to this show has seen the likes of Stella McCartney, Anya Hindmarch and Natalia Vodianova sit for him to be captured in his signature, hyper-realistic portraiture style. Those works, together with his landscape paintings that pay tribute to both amateur works collected by the artist from junkshops, and 18th century romanticist paintings bought at auctions, make up this show.
As the show’s title suggest, Brooks is interested in how the language of painting can take a work of art and, via a journey of exploration, turn it into another. Context is of utmost importance, and where his bucolic renditions of John Constable inspired landscape paintings are concerned, Brooks’ pastiche style invites playful re-interpretation. But his portraiture is what he is best known for, and the first floor gallery at Marlborough hosts nine of these works, comprising close friends and acquaintances (Brooks doesn’t do commissions). At first glance, one could be forgiven for mistaking them for photographs, but upon closer inspection, the extraordinary detail and painstaking technique of painted and airbrushed acrylics is revealed.Brooks captures the essence of each individual by first photographing the (mainly celebrity) sitters in a variety of poses before committing the portrait to his slow and meticulous painting process. In conjunction with the show, which runs until March, an accompanying catalogue written by Will Self ‘The Object is not Objective’, documents Brooks’ oeuvre and artistic process.
Jason Brooks: The Subject is Not the Subject is on at Marlborough Fine Art from 9 February – 10 March 2018
Images, from top:
Portrait of Jason Brooks in his Gloucestershire studio, photography by Luke Andrew Walker, courtesy Marlborough Fine Art
Jason Brooks, The Subject is Not the Subject, Marlborough Fine Art, London, 2018, courtesy the artist
Jason Brooks’ Gloucestershire Studio, photography by Luke Andrew Walker, courtesy Marlborough Fine Art
Jason Brooks, The Subject is Not the Subject, Marlborough Fine Art, London, 2018, courtesy the artist
Jason Brooks, To John Milton, 2017, courtesy the artist and Marlborough Fine Art
Jason Brooks, Erdem, 2017-2018, courtesy the artist and Marlborough Fine Art
www.marlboroughlondon.com/www.jason-brooks.com
