Miscellanea

by J.T. Winik

 This highly anticipated and playful exhibit aptly falls under Studio22’s 2020 vision idiom In the Eye of the Beholder. 

Preview and presale for this exhibit will take place from Tuesday, September 15th to Friday, September 18th. Exhibit opens to the general public for purchase on Saturday, September 19th.

On Thursday evening, September 17th at 8pm, Studio22 will be hosting its very first Live Stream Exhibit Opening.  J.T Winik, alongside Hersh and Ally Jacob, will be streaming live from the gallery and all customers, subscribers and members of the general public are invited to login to view the exhibit and interact with the artist from the comfort of their own home. 

Artist Statement

It all began with feeling blocked. Most artists experience this at some point or another and there is only one way I know of to cure that state:  abandon your intentions and do what you want.  Deciding to play versus adhering to a specific theme both inspired and released me — it always does. I love not knowing exactly where a painting is going and although I begin with some vague idea, it’s when I stop trying to direct it that the process becomes more interactive and exciting. Letting go of expectations allows ideas to shift, faces to form, compositions to twist and surprises to happen.  

With “play” as my praxis, the only element uniting these works is that they are all painted in oil. On canvas or panel, these paintings share no common theme, subject, or size. Several of these works are built upon unresolved paintings of the past where some element has provided a stepping stone to something new. Maritime Girl, for instance, began as a standing figure then morphed into a seated figure against a wall until one morning she broke out and sat herself on a rock by the sea. Little Italian Boy was born as Italy was pummeled by the pandemic and it only took a moment to realize where he came from. Meanwhile An Autumn Day shifted seasons and landscapes before it melded into what it became — an ambiguous tale with a woman, a blimp and a dog. 

Overall, Miscellanea is playful but sometimes dark, humorous but sometimes sad, and occasionally mysterious for no good reason at all. As always, it’s the audience who tells the stories.