Jason Line

My interest for many years has been concerned with the still life; arranging objects in a myriad of ways whether it’s a single object or crowded, placed up high or on the floor, against the light or under a spot light. The aim is ultimately to find a relationship and tension between the forms and the whole composition itself.

In my recent paintings, this search continues and the aim remains the same but now there has been a pulling back to include the surrounding area of the floor, the walls, chairs, tables and other studio equipment whereby a scene is instantly created. The still life invites the viewer to look and touch where now the viewer is invited to ‘walk’ in to the space as well. The chair in particular features regularly in these paintings often taking centre stage either alone or accompanied by a table or another chair. The chair with its back, seat, arms, legs and feet possibly resembles the nearest inanimate object to a human being and can easily exude a formidable presence in the right light as well providing a wealth of pictorial possibilities. Throughout art history of course it has long been used as a symbol of absence, loss and a stand in for a particular person: ‘Vincent Van Gogh’s Chair’ and the empty chair in the foreground of Vermeer’s ‘Lady at the Virginal’ being prime examples. However my intentions from the start are entirely formal rather than working from a narrative or expressing anything personal, it’s the enjoyment of composition and finding the right combination in how different elements relate together in space, that is important. My belief is that any meaning or resultant feeling of atmosphere that might be conveyed is a result of this process alone.