In brief strokes of reflection, spring is both captured in our memories and set forth into a new dimension by the balanced hand of artist Jason Coughlin. 'Clotheslines", Coughlin's latest installation piece, provides a visceral interpretation of nature, rendered in the mixed media of text and images, generating a novel approach to the connection between written and visual perceptions. While the composition of his haiku poems are sketched with clearly recounted impressions, his paintings, composed in light sumi ink wash and tempera paint, create a personal pictography, an alternate lexicon of reference regarding 91 days in spring. His words paint pictures while his paintings tell stories. This interplay of language and imagery, transposed of their classical roles, lead us along a celestial bridge from one equinox to another. Hanging in comfortable insouciance from the walls of nature, Coughlin's work engages us in the genuine rhythm of his reflection. These sheaths of memory lean on the wind, framed by earth and sky, an index of the past.

The opening of "Clotheslines" appropriately coincides with the Japanese "Kanto Matsuri" harvest festival, as Coughlin seeks to nurture the creative seeds of last spring and bless forth a fecund summer. His artistic technique relies on a primitive energy that approaches the resolute truth of an unadulterated subconscious, artistry left uninterrupted by intellectual intention. This is sipping the season straight from the pot, a measure of each day provided by a natural landscape of both local and foreign vistas. Coughlin's thoughts are cast into our embrace with humble honesty, freely reposing from the lines of memory. What is attributed to one season, arches to the present, guiding our thoughts like ribbons on the tail of a kite.

Lis Dreizen
Artist/Writer

For more art from the series or to purchase hard copies please e-mail: artbyjay@gmail.com