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Artworks
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Biography
Artist Jacob Ouillette likens his paintings to musical compositions: each brushstroke is a note, and the final painting is a musical score. Though separate, each note contributes to the whole. "The paintings are created almost as a live performance, one stroke, or note at a time, until the composition is complete," says Ouillette. "The sensory experience of music is something I strive to reproduce in painting."
The artist uses a simple language of brushstrokes and color in his paintings. While previous works featured loosely gridded compositions of rectangles, circles, and curves, his recent work departs from such predetermined structures. Instead the brushstrokes respond to one another rather than to an overall scheme. "The brushstrokes wind around each other; they repel or repeat one another, mirror, follow or peel away," he says.
Ouillette carefully orchestrates the colors' arrangement and frequency. "I am interested in the proportions of colors used," he says. "How many times do they appear in the composition? Are all the colors equal or not?" He also meticulously controls the colors' properties. Dissatisfied with commercially available paints, he mixes his own to achieve a unique palette of saturated colors.
The artist's understanding of color is largely influenced by his upbringing in coastal Maine. "The awesomeness of the ocean and all of its weather, its atmosphere and light, taught me to contemplate the infinite shades of green and blue on the surface of the ocean and the ever-changing colors of the sky," he says.
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CV
Download Ouillette CVLives and works in New York, NY
EDUCATION
BFA, Painting, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Jupiter Rising, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY
2011
Brushstroke Paintings, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
Brushstroke Paintings, The Remsenburg Academy, Remsenburg NY
2010
Recent Paintings, Dean Project, Long Island City, NY
2009
New Works, Buoy Gallery, Kittery, ME
2008
Painted Space: An Installation, Open Source, Brooklyn, NYGROUP EXHIBITIONS AND ART FAIRS
2014
Local Abstraction, Peter Marcelle Project, Southampton, NY
2012
Art Market Hamptons, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
Gallery Artists, Nancy Margolis gallery, New York, NY
2011
Fresh!, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Abiding Abstraction, Boltax Gallery, Shelter Island, NY
Abstraction, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
2010
Scope Miami, Dean Project, Miami, FL
Pulse NYC, Dean Project, New York, NY
2009
Art Toronto, Dean Project, Toronto, Canada
Tina B, Prague contemporary art festival, Prague, Czech Republic
Art Hamptons, Dean Project, Bridgehampton, NY
Scope Basel, Dean Project, Basel, Switzerland
Scope New York, Dean Project, New York, NY
2008
Scope Miami, Dean Project, Miami, FL
Scope London, Dean Project, London, UK
Scope Basel, Dean Project, Basel, Switzerland
Introduction: Future Dialogues, Dean Project, Long Island City, NY
The Thrift Shop, Open Source, Brooklyn, NY
Road Trip, George Marshall Store Gallery, York, MEFELLOWSHIPS
2004
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Mt. San Angelo, VA
2002
William Flanagan Memorial Creative Persons Center, Edward F. Albee Foundation, Montauk,NYCOLLECTIONS
Mayer Brown LLP, New York, NY
USC Keck Medical Center, Los Angeles, CABIBLIOGRAPHY
Garwood, Megan, Painter's Palette: Interview with Jacob Ouillette, On-Verge Alternative Art Criticism, Feb 16, 2012
Graham, Margaret, Jacob Ouillette at Nancy Margolis, Art Criticism and Writing, Nov 23, 2011
Landes, Jennifer, 'Local Abstraction' at Home, The East Hampton Star, Oct 21, 2014
Rogers, Pat, Abstraction Abounds in The Hamptons: Part 1, Hamptons Art Hub, Oct 11, 2014
Rogers, Pat, Brushstrokes of Color, Hamptons Art Hub, Sept 4, 2011
