Jonathan Olazo’s latest exhibit, Designer Emo for the Pseudo Tortured Soul, represents the artist’s continuing search on what makes a good painting. The large-scale works, ranging from 6 x 4 ft. to possibly 6 x 8 ft., will be more consistent and flat in terms of surface compared to The Last Mojo Show, because of the predominant medium used, which is acrylic, says Olazo. Spontaneously putting figurative images on abstract compositions, he believes that there is no cut-and-dried formula in coming up with good modernist paintings. “These are based on personal rebuses that I think of while doing the paintings, or ideas I just read or see from various materials and print media. My recent works and projects are rooted in ideas that I had and tried to develop while in college. I would say, most of the time, I’m just trying to address and develop these ideas…My personal objective is still to find out what makes a good painting good, and how to make a good painting. A conservative goal is to be a better painter. ‘Better’ means a filtering of a more truthful belief and its uninhibited expression.” Olazo isn’t going to stop trying.
Documentation
