Summer Produce
Galleri Urbane
October 2019
Press Release:
Following the success of this year’s After A Long Pause… exhibition, Jason Willaford returns to present his most recent vinyl constructions. Summer Produce includes new work completed this summer in the artist’s Florida studio as well as pieces finished in the weeks leading up to the exhibition. Taking the momentum from his April show, Willaford has employed new techniques and materials to continue pushing his approach to the unique medium.
Willaford’s spring exhibition presented many breakthroughs for the artist. Through a meticulously-honed additive and subtractive process that involves cutting, sewing, and painting with markers, spray paints, and latex paint, Willaford repurposed vinyl billboards to create intricate wall sculptures. Willaford showcased his formal training as a painter, altering the vinyl surface with vibrant hues of color to transform one’s initial reading of the material. The work in Summer Produce continue along this trajectory and, most notably, introduce the use of Flashe paint to offer sections of intense, velvety matte color. Juxtaposed against other finishes like metallic paint marker, the Flashe paints contribute to achieving a surface that is rich with depth.
One of the most crucial developments begotten from the spring exhibition was the ability of each sculpture to exist either alone as a single organism or as part of a larger conglomerate when joined with others. Willaford has ran with this advancement to create the centerpiece for Summer Produce, presenting a wall-sized installation of vinyl structures. Each individually created, the sections have been arranged on site to create a unique work that has the potential to be rearranged and reconfigured any number of ways. This approach is a macro version of Willaford’s studio practice in which he produces numerous smaller components that get organically grouped and sewn together to form complete structures, examples of which also accompany the installation. Constantly inspired by dynamic systems of growth found in nature and science, this installation is a fitting progression for Willaford.
Summer Produce serves as a testament to the versatility of Willaford’s objects. From the small and contained to the large and conjoined, each form is created from an inquisitive mindset that invites limitless possibilities.