Destruction and Repair: The Recent Work of Jon Oskar
Jón Proppé
Jón Óskar’s recent works confirm his determination to test the limits of painting, to work at the edge of what can generally be considered possible in the medium. This he has done in the past through a series of interventions ranging from the application of hot beeswax to the introduction of corroding chemicals that alter the work over time. In his subject matter, too, Jón Óskar has played on the edge, moving from large heroic portraits to a kind of pattern painting resembling mutilated wallpaper. He has also used photography in various ways as an extension to and replacement for the painting process.
The subject matter of the paintings and drawings he is now showing is simple and the same in all the works. The image is well known in history though its origins are lost far back in the distant past, in the murky distance of myth and folklore. The image is that of the jester Harlequin or Arlecchino which has surfaced time and again in European art, deriving ultimately from the dark world of goblins and demons. In medieval times the jesters were „wild men” the maisnée Herlekin – who danced in the carnival to remind people of the presence of the dead. If we go even further back we see that they have precedents in ancient Thrace “the kalogheroi” and in the demons of the Dionysian festivals where they celebrated the rebirth of the god with wild abandon. From being personifications of the dead and performing in honour of the horde of ancestors they were then gradually translated onto the stage where they are represented by the pathetic and tragic-comic figure of Harlequin.
While the figure in these paintings may seem secondary to the method of execution we can see that the two are in fact perfectly meshed. Just as the image of Harlequin serves to remind us of death and rebirth, so the actual working of the paintings involves a cycle of creation and erosion, of destruction and repair, condemnation and redemption. Starting with the simple background image of the jester, Jón Óskar sets to work on the surface of the painting using industrial chemicals and power tools until the painting has been virtually destroyed. The next stage in the process is to repair the damage and Jón Óskar carefully works to restore the painting with wood filler and various other materials. The result is a painting with a history, a painting that has been through hard times even before it is exposed to the gaze of the audience and the critics. These scarred paintings remind us that making art it is not merely a creative process but always involves some degree of destruction and even violence.
The symbolic world from which these paintings emerge is thus inscribed in their very surface and appears clearly, not only in the image which they all share, but also in the history of their violent birth as it can be read in the surface, in the partly healed scars that all but obscure the picture.
Thus they also provide a poignant commentary on the role and purpose of the
artist: Like Harlequin himself the artist must balance the forces of destruction and creation to mediate between the dark anonymity of death and the joyful affirmation of life. Like Harlequin he is doomed to a tragic-comic life, hovering on the edge of the abyss in order to be able to bring something new and significant into being.
