Jonathan Skurnik - Pandemic Paintings

During the pandemic , I used watercolor and gouache to explore color juxtaposition, glazing, and translucent versus opaque pigment layering, among other experiments. The wide open days afforded me the opportunity to deepen my abstract language. This led to a delightful evolution from simple color fields to black bordering to the idea of placing a template of positive and negative apertures on top of simple pastel shapes. In some of the paintings, I sought to balance positive and negative space such that the distinction would disappear, providing a visual experience of non-duality. Then I transitioned to a more playful approach to composition, with elongated, biomorphic shapes and stripes that suggest algae, seaweed or fungi dancing to primordial rhythms.