Biography
Line, gesture, and hue combine to form a celebration of geometric earth tones in these intuitive acrylic paintings by artist Jac Lahav. These new works are a subtle homage to movement and balance, playing with various grays and earthy colors. Complex layered sections with soft swaths of earth tones emerge through hand-drawn circles. Outlined color segments remind the viewer of planetary movements and astrology. The layered painting is at times reminiscent of J.M.W Turners hazy landscapes while the compositions evoke the organic surrealist visions of Joan Miró.
The energy of the artist’s hand sings through these paintings as golden roadways. They serenade the viewer in a sublime song marrying the worlds of hue, value and line. Lahav’s layered canvases speak to the invisible quiet of reflection while his bold geometric mark-making reminds us of Gongshi (Chinese scholar stones used as traditional mediation tools). His simple golden lines harken back to his study of Kintsugi Pottery (or the Japanese art of repairing broken vessels with gold). The end result are paintings that speak to an alchemy of geometry, a dynamic meditation of line, and a mastery of painting technique.
Abshalom Jac Lahav is a Persian/Polish artist born in Jerusalem (Israel) and raised in the United States. He currently lives and works between Brooklyn, NY and Lyme, CT. He graduated with an MFA from Brooklyn College. Throughout his 20+ years of painting and apprenticeship with art giants like Vito Acconci and Keith Meyerson he has been awarded many solo museum exhibitions. Most recently, “The Great Americans” at Connecticut’s Florence Griswold Museum in 2019 where he also received a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Association. His work can be found in multiple public collections throughout the US including the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, WI; Florence Griswold Museum, Lyme CT; Longview Museum of Fine Art, Longview TX, and Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw MI to name a few.