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Amusements Concessions

June 15, 2005 -- J. W. Gardner's new series of large oil paintings combine skillful, aggressive painting techniques with a playful, almost childlike sense of wonder and imagination. While the artist has devoted most of his career to exploring the possibilities of the human figure, his new series of paintings mark a stark departure.



"They are all about making fun pictures," Gardner explains as he gazes at a large canvas filled with things that look like round spacecraft with orange propellers jutting-out in all directions. "They sort of process and combine all of the things that I used to love to look at and touch when I was a young boy and still do. Things like building blocks, erector sets, amusement park rides and old comic books. When I was little, It was easy for me to build something out of Tinker Toys and pretend that it was an amusement park ride. I used to like to put my head down on the floor so that I could look up at it and pretend that I was small enough to climb-on and ride."



This same sense of curiosity and amusement pervade Gardner's new work. He explains the paintings are sort-of like "Philip Guston, or maybe James Nutt meets Dr. Seuss." But, while playful and cheerful, they are also seriously crafted modernist paintings. Thick paint and texture development combine with sophisticated color and composition. There are ambiguities to be sorted out, pieces that don't quite fit, distortion and perspective that are almost right, but not quite.



"I want these paintings to be amusing to look at and figure out. I like to play with line quality, implied space and distortion. I like to place difficult colors together and juxtapositions that are visually tricky."



Another fascinating aspect of many of Gardner's new paintings is that he designs them to be hung from any of the four sides of the canvas.



"When you get tired of looking at it from one direction," he explains with a smile, " just flip it around. I love to look at them up-side-down. When you were little didn't you like to turn your head up and look at stuff side-ways or up-side-down"



Is this art for children Well, the answer is yes. This is art for every child of every age that enjoys looking and wondering and figuring-out.



J. W. Gardner's new work can be viewed online as well as in gallery installations. He also welcomes visitors to his Franklin County studio.

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