The conversation 2019

Jarik Jongman made this painting, called The Conversation, with oil on canvas. At first glance, the palette seems dark, tending towards brown and black, yet the more you look, the more you see all the subtle greens, yellows and reds that are mixed in there. There’s a real tension between the areas of high detail, like the faces and hands of the figures, and the more abstract sections where the paint is almost smeared onto the canvas. Those splodges of white light coming from the lamp feel so vital, and are created with really physical marks. Look at the broken beams in the foreground and how they direct your eye back to the two figures at the centre of the canvas. The marks feel quite gestural and immediate, as if Jongman is as interested in the process of painting as in the thing being represented. This reminds me of Richter’s figurative paintings, in that both artists are interested in the interplay between representation and abstraction, and how that can reflect the instability of the image in contemporary culture. Ultimately, this painting invites us to contemplate the fleeting nature of perception and the stories we construct from fragments of experience.