And now for something completely polar opposite of splatter: realism. Namely the realism of Brooklyn artist David Jon Kassan. I saw a sample of Kassan's oil paintings on wood panel a month or so ago on another blog. I have to say that I was dumb-struck by the photo-like precision and the luminescent skin tones that only oils can promise. I'm not married to realism. I think realism, by very nature that it's meant to represent "real", can be boring to painful, depending on the skill level of the artist. Kassan makes it look so captivating, so easy.
His subjects are ordinary. They are captured as if being viewed behind a 2-way mirror, or an un-manned video camera. They sulk and pace and pose as if they're waiting for meeting, or for judgment. The artist finds them in a moment of introspection. The palates are dark and earthy. The backgrounds are not exactly organic, but industrial and deeply textured, neutral composites of concrete and brick and sometimes, text.
It's the skin that makes them so beautiful. Whether it's the skin of a young woman deep in thought, or an old man looking worriedly out of the frame, their skin is so translucent, one can almost see the blood moving beneath it. Kassan spares his subjects nothing in their skin; no blemish, no mole, no shadows from sleeplessness or age. Yet they have a worldly, empathetic beauty that makes them as real as anyone you'd stand in line behind at Starbuck's. Ordinary, unromantic, urban, pensive, and middle class. It's all revealed in their skin. I can only imagine how beautiful these paintings are in person.
www.davidkassan.com
