Jason Hackenwerth

The work

Interface joins two similar, proportional volumes, borrowed from the shape of a teardrop or a seashell. A third, canopy-like part bridges them, holding the two curved forms together structurally and completing the trinity as both mortar and protector.

The form relates directly to Hackenwerth’s paintings, which use similar curves and gestural marks. The title speaks to the joining of the two disciplines, and to the relationship between artist, gallery and fair: three institutions that become a meeting point for expression and elevation.

Artist statement

Painting for me is a spiritual practice. It’s a way of observing the drama occurring in the world around me, processing it, and reconciling within myself a level of acceptance and forgiveness. Each painting becomes an ambiguous narrative of perpetration, retribution, surrender, and transcendence.

My paintings evolve through layers of disruptions and revisions, and as they are resolved, there is resolution within. In this way my work is both the documentation of, and a literal pathway to redemption. I believe the emotions that I feel in the process become stored in the paintings as energy for the viewer and a shared human experience.

About the artist

Jason Hackenwerth is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture and installation. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and National Museums Scotland. His paintings are in private and public collections worldwide.

He received his MFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2010, and a BFA in printmaking from Webster University in 1997. He is a 2011 Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant recipient, a two-time recipient of the Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Grant, and a Palladium Theater Creative Fellow. Press includes The New York Times, Art in America, Surface, American Craft, Sculpture and Creative Review.

He lives and works in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he is the owner and director of Sixstar Art Studios.