Jason Kowalski: Old Glory

JASON KOWALSKI OLD GLORY

Golden Hour, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 80 x 42 x 2.50 in.

Homestead Heritage, 2024, oil and mixed media on panel, 36 x 48 in.

Jason Kowalski is one of today’s most visually perceptive and technically astute painters of America’s mid-20th century built landscape. But his talent is far more than just technical. His paintings possess an authentic sensitivity to the people and time of the places that are his subjects and, as a result, there is in his works an uncanny spirit that gives them a remarkable aura of life and vibrancy that seems transported directly from another era. Kowalski was recently awarded a prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in deference to his skills. Kowalski’s work goes well beyond mere painted documentation of his subject matter. As aesthetic reminiscences of historic roadside architecture and signage, these paint- ings certainly also engage aesthetic muniments. These exquisite works resonate, with unexpected and sensitive cultural nuance, the hopes and dreams — however faded and tattered— that once defined the glories of an American past. Though Kowalski was not yet born when most of what he paints was full of the lives and aspirations of the men and women who were themselves the heart of the American Heartland — when the “No Vacancy” signs of motels along Old Route 66 lit up and the Keg Saloon was jammed at night with revelry — somehow he captures in his paintings the spirit of what remains of the towers of that bulwark of an Americana now nearly gone, the soul of a vital time and the folk that lived in it. He does this with the intuition of a poet and evokes a connection with his subject in his light-infused and affectionate treatment of the tangible remnants of what otherwise is merely memory and story. Viewers of a certain age may instantly recognize motel signs.

Roadside Legacy, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 60 x 44 x 2 in.

Rodeo Town, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 42 x 42 in.

In his paintings that clearly harken to America at the mid-century, when travel by car was a culture, and half the fun of arriving at a destination was in getting there, stopping at plenty of roadside attractions along the way. “Oftentimes, these things are in dilapidated states, rusting, and falling apart. There’s a beauty in that,” Kowalski aptly notes. Kowalski’s genius lies in his aesthetic ability to visually transform and elevate what might be perceived as dilapidation into a sense of proud resilience. His work somehow extracts the majesty that lies all but forgotten in these abandoned, decaying buildings and rusting cars and trucks, the marquis signs that could today seem the epitome of kitsch, all these relics of the past, and brings out hints of beauty that plainly remain in them, and relates it into a new and dignified reference for delectation in the present. The artist’s presentation of the purity of color and light in the structures and objects also bespeaks a kind of spiritual purity. Perhaps it derives from the nature of things then and perhaps now it is a reflection too of the artist’s lack of artifice in his intention in making these works.

His technical skill is remarkable and is used by him to poetic effect to summon memory and nostalgia with his facility for meticulous detail the shabby and fading as well as the grand and majestic. Kowalski presents the aggregation of all of these elements with a signature use of diffused light, toned colors and reverential perspective in order to inspire consciousness of the time and places his work portrays.

Ultimately, the works liminality hover between presence and dream.

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Rambling Prospector, 2023, Oil & mixed media on panel 48 x 60 x 2 in.

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American Classic, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 18 x 24 in.

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Welcome Travelers, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 38 x 60 x 2 in.

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Open Range, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 27 x 36 x 2 in.

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Sunshine Station, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 21 x 40 x 2 in.

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Railyard Retreat, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 36 x 54 x 2 in.

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Nightly Entertainment, 2021, Oil & mixed media on panel, 24 x 24 x 2 in.

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Lucky Strike, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 72 x 30 x 2.50 in.

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Bohemian Dreams, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel 44 x 27 x 2 in.

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The Keg Saloon, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 24 x 42 x 2 in.

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Be Our Guest, 2023, Oil & mixed media on panel, 27 x 40 x 2 in.

His paintings can serve an underlying purpose. They can make time stand still. These paintings preserve a part of what made these places beautiful, what wove them into the fabric of the American Dream. One of the great virtues of Kowalski’s approach to his subject is its ability to effect a transformation of the dreams of these places from what they once were to the reality of what they are now. His work is full of the current beauty they have and also the memories of what they once were. In the ability to express this synthesis, Kowalski achieves major success.

Uniquely, these paintings bespeak a subtle sense of happiness, rare for works that endeavor to depict this genre of loss, allowing the viewer the freedom to imagine their own forebears, those who might have treasured their lives in these places, those who might have sought that great American Dream here. Kowalski shares this quiet joy with an open heart and a most talented brush.

JASON KOWALSKI b. 1986 in Boynton Beach, Florida Solo Exhibitions 2024 Old Glory, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2023 Heritage Traveler, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2022 Under Western Skies, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2021 Rural Grandeur, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2021 Highway Rambler, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2020 J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA 2019 J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA 2018 Somewhere in America, J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA 2017 Vintage, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2015 Affectionately American, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2014 Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2014 Time and America, J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA 2012 Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2011 A Popular Vacation Spot, Terry Martin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2010 Jason Kowalski, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2009 Introducing Jason Kowalski, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA Group Exhibitions 2020 Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2019 LCAD Collector’s Choice Featured Artist, Montage Resort, Laguna Beach, CA J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Curiosities of American Culture, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2018 28th Annual Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO LCAD Collector’s Choice Featured Artist, Montage Resort, Laguna Beach, CA Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2017 LCAD Collector’s Choice Featured Artist, Montage Resort, Laguna Beach, CA California Cool, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA 2016 Celebrate Art, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA Holiday Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO Ongoing Group Exhibition, J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Chill, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA Landscape Group Exhibition, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO California Cool, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA 2015 25th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO LCAD Collector’s Choice Auction, Montage Resort, Laguna Beach, CA Ongoing Group Exhibition, J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Wish You Were Here, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA Pictures from a trip, Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis MN California Cool, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA ROADTRIP, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA Seen: A New Americana, Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis MN 26

2014 J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Common Tread, William D. Cannon Art Gallery, San Diego, CA American Flashback, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA Time and America, J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA The Art of the Heist, Laguna Beach, CA 2013 J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Meyer Gallery, Park City, Utah Nothing but Blue Skies, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2012 Common Tread, CSUF Begovich Gallery, Fullerton, CA J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Palette to Palate, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA California Dreamin, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, April 5-30, Laguna Beach, CA 2011 Three Man Show, Meyer Fine Art, Park City, Utah J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Swenson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA Meyer Fine Art, Park City, Utah Gallery 793, Laguna Beach, CA Hand Pressed, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA The History of Flight, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA Small Works Show, Swenson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA 2010 Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Palm Springs, CA 2009 Jackson Street Exhibition, Curated by Scape Gallery, San Francisco, CA LCAD Group Exhibition, Gallery 793, Laguna Beach, CA Senior Fine Art Exhibition, 7 Degrees Gallery, Laguna Beach CA Grapes for Grads Guest Artist, Laguna Beach, CA Best of the Best, Laguna College of Art and Design Exhibition, Laguna Beach, CA Urban Ambiance Exhibition, Long Beach Arts Association, Long Beach, CA 2008 Laguna College of Art and Design Summer Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Best of the Best, Laguna College of Art & Design Exhibition, Laguna Beach, CA

Education 2009 BFA in Fine Art Drawing, Laguna College of Art and Design, Laguna Beach, CA

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Back Cover: Open Range, 2024, Oil & mixed media on panel, 27 x 36 in.

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Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com ©2024 LewAllen Galleries | Artwork © Jason Kowalski