Observer 2016

Editor: This acrylic painting, titled "Observer" by Jason Limon, was created in 2016. It strikes me as both whimsical and intricately crafted. I'm fascinated by how Limon blends organic elements with machine-like precision. How do you interpret the creation of this piece through its materials and context? Curator: This painting provides fertile ground for a materialist approach. I am struck by how the artist simulates a mechanical object using traditional painting. Think about the labor involved in creating the *illusion* of metal and precise engineering with mere acrylic on a surface. This contrast immediately asks us to consider our assumptions about "high art" and the value we assign to different types of making. Editor: That’s an interesting perspective. It’s as if the painting itself is performing a commentary on production and value. What do you make of the "Come Out and Observe" inscription at the top? Curator: It heightens this tension! It suggests that this artificial object – this accumulation of rendered material – is prompting *us* to observe. What does it mean for something made to observe, or reflect the act of observing itself? Who or what produced the text on top, and is it truly any different than the layers upon layers of manufactured pigments we see below it? Editor: I see what you mean. It makes you consider the chain of production – the paints, the canvas, the brushes, the labor involved in creating them all, leading up to this final image. Curator: Exactly! Limon forces us to acknowledge that even the most seemingly straightforward image is the product of a complex network of materials and processes. This ultimately challenges us to interrogate our relationship with art as both commodity and expression. Editor: I had not thought of it that way before. Focusing on the material conditions really brings a new layer of appreciation to what seems like just a fun image. Curator: Indeed! It’s about looking beneath the surface, and appreciating the human hand – and the system supporting it – in every stroke.