If you are not a bar or bat mitzvah, then let me depict the scene for you; the height of luxury and ending of your childhood and transition into young adulthood are things to expect, along with the posh middle school cocktail attire and the excitement surrounding having your first slow dance during the game of snowball. These are all themes you can pick up on in Jonas Wood's oil and acrylic painting of his own bar mitzvah; a pre pubescent boy clearly nervous and excited while surrounded by his family as he transitions from child to man.
In Jonas Wood’s fifth solo exhibition at Anton Kern Gallery, Portraits, Wood’s introduces us to many of his different family events. Whether it be his own bar mitzvah family photo, or a portrait of an idolized basketball player, Portraits presents a group of oil and acrylic paintings that depict his family, close friends, and himself. Through the use of vibrant colors, lines, and blurring the differences between classical painting and contemporary abstraction, Wood interprets personal moments from his own life, while maintaining a sense of an outsider's perspective looking in that leaves a sense of mystery surrounding each piece.
Wood’s practice encompasses multiple different facets of art; most of which reflect his family life and childhood, pieces together a collage of memories, places, events, and people. He first starts his work by collecting an items of significance, such as photos or drawings and continues by layering blocks of color.
Wood’s display of oil and acrylic paintings allow you to enter the artist's world: whether it be through an idolized basketball player or a young bar mitzvah boy Portraits will feel like you stepped into a photo montage of the artist's life.
I like the way that you sum up the general ideas about this artist’s works. Families, friends and the artist himself are the leading characters in his art works. By using strong and pure colors, his paintings reveal his imagination and make his memories come to live. You used the second and third paragraph to concisely introduce the appearance of these art works. The words you choose are very convincing. But I think that if you could pick one painting that can represents the artist’s characteristics most and also briefly described it, it would to more powerful.
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