Shirley Kaneda interviewed
Jonathan Lasker a couple of years ago for
BOMB. Kaneda brought up Lasker's brief time in a rock band and they began discussing the relationship between composing music and composing a painting. The musical link came to mind immediately when looking at images from his newest show at
Cheim & Reid.
SK I don’t think many artists are aware that making a painting is like composing a piece of music.
JL Composition’s always been within my paintings, but the traditional conception of composition has always been two-dimensional. My interest in composition has actually been three-dimensional. I often think of these biomorphic shapes that are laid down on top of the grounds of my paintings as being picture puzzle elements that I can grab and lift off the canvas and hang on the wall for a second. Just let them sit there on a coat hanger totally separate from what’s happening on the painting ground. And the drawing element is also very separate—those three elements are, conceptually in the third-dimension.
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| Jonathan Lasker, Commerce and Darkness, 2014, Oil on linen, 60 x 80" |
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| Jonathan Lasker, The Universal Frame of Reference, 2014, Oil on linen, 90 x 120" |
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| Jonathan Lasker, Trust Over Truth, 2015, Oil on canvas board, 12 x 16" |
