Early Modern to Contemporary
Opening Reception: 5 - 7 pm | Saturday, September 9
Exhibition Dates:
September 9 - October 21, 2023
203 Fine Art is pleased to present a solo exhibition by long-time Taos artist Jonathan Sobol. The works in this show feature newer creations, the majority of which have never been exhibited, including gestural sculpture works that bring this artist’s abstracted forms to life.
A professional artist of Taos since 1984, Fundamental Energy is not a retrospective but an inclusive exhibition juxtaposing Sobol’s early modernist works with his contemporary style. A previous curator of the Stables Gallery in 1989, Sobol was once creating alongside the Taos Moderns, who were all masterfully interpreting objects and landforms. However, as an artist who grows as frequently as the land he pulls inspiration from, Sobol is taking to re-inventing his own fundamentals of process. These newer paintings go beyond mere interpretation of landscapes and instead channel the energic vibrations of the macrocosm, raising his artwork to new levels.
Installation of #1041 in the artist’s home
Jonathan Sobol in his studio, 2023
Jonathan Sobol has been a professional artist since 1976, although his explorations in oil painting began when he was just eight years old. Growing up amongst artists and musicians, Sobol was fortunate to have profound mentors to guide his craft. The diversity of his mentors gave Sobol the unique opportunity to find his own voice in a sea of creative possibilities.
At a young age, Sobol was introduced to genres such as Fauvists, Avant-Gardists, Academicians, Portrait Painters, Modernists, Minimalists, Abstract Expressionists, sculptors, and printers. Without such an encompassing exposure to different forms of art, Sobol’s own art would not take the form it does today. Sobol effortlessly constructs and deconstructs the marriage of many of these genres within his art. Each piece composes a different emotional ambiance for both the artist and the beholder, and his unrestrictive, intuitive form of creation emerges in vivid colors and illustrative titles.
Sobol has hosted seminars and held professional positions in galleries and museums around the Southwest since 1989, when he was selected for the role of Curator of the Taos Art Association’s Stables Gallery in Taos, NM. The artist has since held solo shows nationally and internationally, including Vitkin Gallery, Israel; Keyes Lee Gallery, Arizona; Galerie Timothy Tew, Georgia; M.A. Doran Gallery, Oklahoma; and the Taos Art Museum, New Mexico.
#1046, 22 x 22”, oil on canvas, 2023
#1057
20 x 30”, oil on canvas, 2023
Jonathan Sobol began his career surrounded by the infinite possibilities of different styles of art. However, it was the modernist style that he would become most known for in his early career. Between his still lifes, landscapes, and portraits, the subject matter of these earlier works were more obvious for the viewer to discern. Sobol notes his time spent creating alongside the remaining Taos Moderns at the end of the 20th century as an influential era of his artistic career. As that era began to disappear, Sobol began to define his own distinct voice within the contemporary art scene of Taos.
The artist’s fundamentals of process have been changing in recent years. Utilizing organic shapes that the land visually provides, Sobol seems to relate their microscopic anatomies to the bigger picture. Cell shapes and colorful cardiograms radiate like atoms across the canvas, all in the hopes of leading the viewer to their own interpretations of the life found around them. Many of these works stand complete without title, intentionally, so there are no preconceived notions of an artist’s intent. Sobol keeps only one goal when it comes to his art: to get his audience to feel.
#1054
32 x 48”, oil on canvas, 2023
BlueAgain#1053
30 x 36”, oil on canvas, 2023
Little Red Rise #978 29 x 14.25”, oil on canvas, 2023
While the artist cites these energetic experiences as from a source outside of himself, he does acknowledge the individual’s effect when attempting to render these experiences through the filter of the human body. Self-expression is not the driving desire behind Sobol’s work— it is a consequence. Sobol notes, “any ness that comes through is because of the body it is being relayed through... an involuntary revelation on how one’s life was lived.”
With plenty of light playful colors to balance the deep hues and dark spaces Sobol enters numerous times within this collection of works, an obsessive focus on either end of the spectrum proves fruitless. Sobol’s art reflects a life lived wholly, inflicting joy once more before one can swallow the grief. Even without self-expression as a goal, the artist is able to invite his viewers into the most intimate of spaces.
Detail of BlueAgain#1053 30 x 36”, oil on canvas, 2023
#1041
30 x 30”, oil on canvas, 2023
#1051
44 x 60”, oil on canvas, 2023
#1043
30 x 60”, oil on canvas, 2023
#992
9 x 12”, oil on canvas
Proton #1017
48 x 24”, oil on canvas, 2023
#1056
30 x 60”, oil on canvas, 2023
#1048
36 x 30”, oil on canvas, 2023
#1042
8 x 10”, oil on canvas, 2023
In the Meantime #964 8 x 10”, oil on canvas, 2023
Like many of the paintings in this show, Sobol’s sculpture works are nuanced additions to his featured collection. Never before exhibited, these rubbercoated wooden forms bring the artist’s abstracted shapes into the third dimension. The texture and signature feel of Sobol remains while providing new perspectives for the viewer to embody.
#1055
30 x 36”, oil on canvas, 2023
24 x 48”, oil on canvas, 2022
#1052
32 x 48”, oil on canvas, 2023
“The art which delights me possesses a seductive first impression, an elegance of spirit, and an unexpected depth of emotional expression which gradually takes form in ones awareness...”
- Jonathan Sobol
1. #1041 - $5,800
2. #1046 - $3,800
3. #1057 - $4,000
4. The Sky Above My Fields #995 - $2,500
5. Beyond Knowing #1036 - $12,800
6. #1054 - $8,200
7. The History of the World #986 - $9,800
8. Blue Again #1053 - $6,800
9. Little Red Rise #978 - $2,800
10. #1041 - $5,800
11. #1051 - $12,800
12. #1043 - $8,800
13. #992 - $1,800
14. Proton #1017 - $7,200
15. #1056 - $8,800
16. #1048 - $6,800
17. #1042 - $1,200
18. Greenform - $3,200
19. In the Meantime #964- $2,200
20. Beamform - $3,200
21. Greenform II - $3,200
22. #1055 - $3,200
23. No One Said It Was Easy #989 - $7,200
