Waiting room VII 2019

Curator: Jarik Jongman’s 2019 oil painting, “Waiting room VII," really stops me in my tracks. Editor: It's dark. My first thought is discarded. Something about the scene feels forgotten, or deliberately abandoned. Curator: The impasto is pretty thick here, almost sculptural, wouldn't you say? You can really feel the texture of the bricks, the worn wood of the chairs… it feels tangible. Editor: Yes, but the chairs themselves strike me as metaphors. Waiting rooms are transitional spaces. Who are we waiting for and what are we waiting for? To me, the scene almost suggests the wait is over and someone has made their final move. Curator: Perhaps. Or maybe it's more about the potential, the lingering anticipation? Look at the way the light falls - or *doesn't* fall - casting the whole thing into shadow. Is that hopelessness? I’m also getting vibes of waiting for the other shoe to drop... I can almost smell the old varnish. Editor: That lack of illumination does lend itself to a sense of despair, especially given how the physical integrity of the chairs are compromised; missing slats and scattered bits imply something unresolved and falling apart, physically or mentally. Curator: And there's something strangely beautiful about decay, isn't there? In a perverse way, Jongman captured some essential melancholic feeling, but that’s strangely reassuring about shared human experiences. Editor: Melancholy as a shared space resonates for me, definitely. Though this piece, for me, more strongly signals the weight of what we leave behind and perhaps even more chillingly, what awaits. Curator: The interesting thing for me is the way that, by abstracting what could otherwise be seen as mundane – discarded chairs, an abandoned room - he elevated those moments, the forgotten pockets of time and spaces in between things into something worth reflecting on. Editor: For me, this artwork serves as a reminder that art can not only beautify life but can provide an intimate critique of the often painful realities of simply being alive, stuck waiting and facing the uncertain future.