The journey 2019

Curator: Welcome! We’re standing before Jarik Jongman’s, “The Journey,” completed in 2019 using acrylic paint and an impasto technique. Editor: It's immediately striking how heavy the atmosphere is. Dense and murky, with those almost feverish flickers of red, an oppressive sky—the entire scene weighs down on you. Curator: The artist clearly emphasizes texture. See how Jongman uses the impasto method, applying thick layers of paint, to achieve a sculptural surface, really playing with the concept of landscape and figuration? Editor: Absolutely. It’s about the build-up, the physical layering of paint mirroring the building of an environment. You see that repeated, almost obsessive layering. And it extends from the landscape itself to the light source from those glowing fixtures, doesn’t it? Curator: Those fixtures seem artificial within a seemingly natural, yet undoubtedly stylized landscape. It suggests a fabricated experience, perhaps questioning authenticity itself. Editor: Or pointing to labor! Someone had to put up those lights, row the boat, prepare the materials…The hand of humanity is always visible here, even if indirectly. And those small marks—floral? Explosive? Are we seeing disruption and impact to resources here too? Curator: One can perceive these strokes as representative of a journey, and the lights almost like guidance in what looks like a post-expressionistic manner. Yet their uniform placement renders a rather staged direction. Editor: The construction of the scene itself through painting reveals a network of interventions – of people, resources, intention – and ultimately reminds me that “nature” as we understand it is equally mediated and fabricated. I guess our experiences will continue to build on these textures too, right? Curator: Precisely. I appreciate how our perspectives augment the painting’s richness in meaning and visual expression, ultimately allowing it to resonate in unforeseen and original ways.