I visited Jason Horowitz in his studio a few days ago. What I learned was interesting as well as proved points about the viewing of artworks that we (or I anyway) always say, but constantly break. By this I’m referring to the practice of believing that web images are the same as viewing art. JH’s photographs are large in size – about 40 x 60 inches. The images themselves are close up (but not too close) of the human figure. Let’s break this down a moment so you understand why I said “not too close” these are not some high school pictures of the body so abstracted you don’t know what you see, just the opposite. In fact it is the recognition of the image that leads to further exploration by the viewer. So back to the size of the images – this is a key element to both viewing and understanding his work – shown smaller they don’t seem to work in the same way.
JH shoots digitally, but these are for the most part “straight” photographs. They are sharp, and at the same time whole areas of an image reads as an abstract area. This flip-flop of detail (abstracted to sharp representation) for me becomes the most interesting part of the work. Recently, Horowitz has changed his approach as a photographer – stopping all of his commercial photography and is focusing exclusively on his studio work. I find this amazingly brave.
We spoke of many things in the studio, but at the core of our conversation was the thinking behind the approach of his work, and where it might go. A number of new things are on the horizon, and seem to be well worth waiting for.
Jason Horowitz is represented by Curator’s Office.