Painting is one of the things that I do. I was the co-founder and Program Director of PDX-CSA and worked in numerous capacities for Portland Open Studios. I also sell used books. I also write things.
If you want to contact me about my paintings, setting up a studio visit, why I like green, et cetra you can e-mail me at jason@kappusart,com.
In case you want an artist's statement:
General Statement:
My figurative work carries a humanist theme, responding to the fact that both locally and globally the idea of humans recognizing each other as equals is still difficult to achieve. Deeper meanings and broader connections can be found in my work, however an egalitarian stance underlies all of it. Perhaps less apparent but no less important, is my interest in narrative and the viewer’s ability to interpret emotion and construct stories with minimal context.
Eyes Closed (General)
Eyes and eyelids are consider pivotal to understanding human emotion, so how much can we understand about what a person is thinking or feeling when their eyes are closed - quite a lot. We close our eyes to rest, whether conscious or sleeping, and we close our eyes in the midst of many emotional experiences (laughter, pleasure, pain, et cetra). When someone's eyes are closed their focus is on themselves and this series explores what it's like to look at a person when they are absorbed in themselves.
Eyes Closed (Laughing)
In this series depicting people in the act of laughing, I use neo-impressionist marker portraits to consider how much we reveal ourselves when our eyes are closed. As an involuntary response to external stimuli, laughter is an abandonment of self-concern. As a result of this, or perhaps despite this, laughter's sometimes dramatic facial expressions can display someone's personality in an intimate, unconcealed way. In this set of works I have included a range of laugh intensities, but focused on laughter that expresses positive emotions like happiness and mirth. As laughter is often considered to be contagious these artworks are intended to inspire further joy and amusement.
Obscured Faces:
For the Obscured Face series I depict people who have covered their faces for some reason. The reason might be religious (hijabs and other head coverings), it might be for safety (surgical masks or gas masks), it might be for warmth (lined hoods and scarves), or it might be for style (hoodies, bandanas). All of these coverings elicit judgments, positive or negative depending on your perspective. In this series I have removed that context and depict only the human skin that is visible in order to explore how we might see these different categories of people if the context clues provided by their clothing were removed.