Untitled 1990

This untitled piece was made with pastel on paper by Jacob Kainen. It’s all about touch, isn't it? See how Kainen lets the pastel drag and skip across the surface? The colors are chalky and soft, coral pinks, leafy greens and pale yellows are blended and layered, creating a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere. The marks aren’t trying to be anything other than themselves, raw and immediate. Look at the way the strokes overlap, creating a kind of shimmering effect. It’s not about illusionism, more about the stuff that paint can do. There’s a real honesty to this approach. It reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell’s pastels, that same sense of freedom and directness, where the making becomes the subject. It’s like Kainen is saying, "Here's the world, but here's also the stuff I used to make it." And that's kind of beautiful, right?