BROOKLYN ARTIST LUKE JACKSON
Today, we have the pleasure of diving into the world of Luke Jackson, a gestural artist based in Brooklyn. Luke's unique approach to art, characterized by blind scribbles that evolve into evocative pieces, invites viewers into a realm where imagination and perception intertwine. His current exhibition, "Dear Dad," explores the themes of memory and the enduring bonds between a son and his late father. Through his art, Luke creates an interpretative playground, encouraging personal dialogue and reflection.
Thank you for joining us today Luke, first we’d love to know more about your greatest inspirations and influences.
It is difficult for me to pinpoint an exact thing or set of things that inspire me. I am inspired equally by nature and literature as I am by politics and history. I am powered by anger as much as humor, and beauty as much as imperfection. I suppose the tension between opposites is a running theme for me. And also in that vein, I am enthralled by the experience of memory and forgetting. I love and am frustrated by the experience of forgetting a dream even as I am becoming aware of just having dreamed. That phantom state, that is at once very difficult to define and yet is somehow also a very fitting expression of the fleeting nature of life, is a huge obsession for me. I am endlessly fascinated by the tension between consciousness and the loss of memory.
What becomes of us and of things when we forget them?
What compels our need to be remembered? Where is the truth between meaning and meaninglessness?
Tell us about your creative process.
If I could only use one word to describe my process, it would be "Improvisational".
I am happiest with my pieces when they feel like a dream that has just been forgotten. Where form hovers in the space just before recognition. When its presence is felt but its meaning evades. Because of this process of avoiding clear meaning, it is especially hard to know when a painting or drawing is finished. I usually feel a piece is finished when it achieves a certain resonance, a kind of vibration that oscillates between being and depicting.
What are some themes that you are constantly exploring through your art.
I have, in my past, explored themes in a wide range. Everything from the art of the American West, to current day politics, to family histories, to pop culture and gender stereotypes or even simply formal themes that have mainly to do with gestural abstraction. Currently, I am enjoying the formal and textural possibilities that come from limiting myself to only working with graphite and charcoal and water and eraser: Drawing, in other words, but with abstract gestural painting in mind.
How do you feel about the role of technology as it relates to art these days?
I believe that the role of technology in art is no different today than it was at the advent of the photographic camera. Or, for that matter, the ancient ancestor of the camera, the tool from which it gets its name, the literal Camera Obscura. At any point in history when technology has made another leap, there have always been detractors as well as promoters of said technology. In the end, it seems that most technology just becomes yet another tool for the infinite creativity of artists all over the world. Especially when said technology becomes widely accessible. So personally, I am not worried about technology's impact on art or artists. We will find ways to create new and more brilliant things with, or in spite of, technology because we always have.
Anything else you would like to share?
My personal definition for Art.... Art, if nothing else, is action.
