Studio Visit: Jason Rohlf

After a day of false starts I finally was able to get back on the plan and meet up with Jason. It was a beautiful day- perfect for checking out the High Line. The High Line is an old abandoned track that has been repurposed as a beautiful walking trail. It is a gem in the city, suspended a story over building entrances and surrounded by rain gardens and lovely public art, it is a real getaway in the city (on a weekday anyway). I was happy to see an installation by Spencer Finch in the windows of a building. I was able to meet him last summer at SAIC where I was doing a study on Contemporary Art. His intense investigation of color theory makes him a kindred spirit and something of an idol in my world. I could never be as precise or scientific in my process as he is but I admire his work and divulged as much when I compromised his time during a visit to the SAID studio. He uses complex measuring tools to recreate the exact colors found in each pixel of an image of the area and then recreates them in panes of glass that are installed in a colorful array. The river must have shown some spectacular blues, greens and neutral browns on that day. After a stroll we headed back to Williamsburg for a burger at Colette Cafe and some time at the studio.

Jason's studio is in his home that he shares with his partner and their two children. Their space is a brilliant example of how living with the things you love and loving the things you live with are truly important in close quarters. There is something to look at everywhere but it's not cluttered- just full of beautiful, thoughtful, well placed objects d'art. It is the most comfortable (not austere) loft space I've ever been in. It used to overlook the river before condos took over Williamsburg. His studio is in the entryway to the kitchen and is equally well organized. It has feeling of productiveness and order. After tucking into a lovely slice of angelfood cake with homemade rhubarb compote and a cup of french pressed coffee we turned to the conversation: My question to Jason was how does a boy from central Wisconsin grow up to live as an artist in New York?






Our conversation was meandering . I'm as interested in his work (because it is amazing) as I am in the artist's life so it was hard to keep on task. So the bits of wisdom I gleaned about his story are fractured by my continual tangents into his paintings, other artists we like and general catch up. An interesting bit of advice that Jason gave me was that if you can't give it away then no one will buy it either. What I mean by that is to get exposure. Some of the connections that helped get him to where he is now were unexpected. He donated a painting to a fundraiser and the person who bought it started a chain reaction. He got out there on someone's radar. You never know who will be a person or event that tips things in the right direction for you. Part of this has to do with being ready when an opportunity arises. It's both having your ideas and materials together and knowing what an opportunity looks like. The intersection of these two things is imperative to moving forward in your artistic career. He also said don't be too deliberate, be open to possibilities. It is a combination of talent, perseverance and seeing opportunities that will propel you. He also spoke about authenticity. As I mentioned before, Jason has a family and no "day job". He brings the kids to school and hits the studio, networks, markets his work, deals with galleries, shows and consultants. Making art is his business. A lot of people think of an artist as someone with a fickle, melancholy temperament but that is not what we have here. You can make great work and have a normal (maybe fabulous) life and it's okay.



So what is he working on now? I was lucky to catch him as he was just back from a trip to Munich. He is doing a project with the MTA (metro transit) that has been in the works for some time now and finally came to fruition recently. A side note here is his caution to not get your undies in a bundle (my verbiage) when a gallery says they'll hold onto your stuff and show your work in a couple of years. That time goes quickly. Also getting paid for your work is not always on your watch. Anyone with a small business can affirm this. Back to the MTA project. One of his bird paintings is being translated into glass and installed in a Brooklyn subway station. As a painter he needed to work with a glass studio to make that happen. This is where the trip to Munich came in. At the glass studio he worked with experts in the trade. He said initially it was difficult to share the process in a sort of collaboration. However it was his idea that was manifested by another person who understood the technical aspects of working with glass. They worked together for two days straight to communicate his intentions and so he understood the process. At this point any finishing will be done by the glass folks. He also recently did a project in a Printmaking studio in Colorado. The prints he made will stay in the gallery to be sold to corporate offices. Again, the process was collaborative in the sense that he was using their presses in the space but a lot of interesting work came out of it. It turns out that his aesthetic translates really well in a variety of mediums. There was a lot of experimentation with the process and plates with a huge variety of results. In an average year Jason has 3 to 4 gallery openings and the same amount of art fairs. That is a busy schedule! Treat you art making like a career and it will become your career. It doesn't hurt that he makes very intriguing layered, textural pieces with an intuitive sense for color and intricacy that is notable both from a distance and as it lures you into it's surface. The component of talent was there from the start.