Julon Pinkston
Dark Energy
October 20 - November 17, 2018
RO2 ART | 1501 S. ERVAY STREET, DALLAS TX
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October 20 - November 17, 2018
Ro2 Art | Dallas, TX |
Ro2 Art is proud to present Dark Energy, a solo exhibition featuring new works by artist Julon Pinkston. The show will run from October 20 through November 17, 2018. There will be an opening reception held Saturday, October 20, from 7-10pm at Ro2 Art located at 1501 S. Ervay Street, Dallas TX 75215.
Julon Pinkston’s solo exhibition Dark Energy explores the darker side of the human condition, with the understanding that light and dark energy are both essential and innate parts of our existence. Utilizing natural and manufactured materials to mirror the world around him, Pinkston works at the whim of his intuition, describing his creative process as knowing objectively how he will begin a piece, but allowing the art to direct his subsequent steps. With the intention for the viewer to experience the same sense of discovery he posseses while creating his pieces, Pinkston is constantly pushing the conventions of how art is created. He uses acrylic paint in a sculptural approach by bending, folding, and dragging wet and dried paint across surfaces. Pinkston’s process of working intuitively plays into his themes about self discovery, tapping into the subconscious, and embracing one’s own dark energy. |
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
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Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Julon Pinkston first began his studio practice in college after serving as an infantry soldier in the US Army. It was a result of his military experience and personal loss that spurred him into taking the bold move to practice studio art as a career, embracing an Army motto Fortuna Favet Fortibus (Fortune Favors the Bold).
Pinkston earned a BFA, graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Houston in 2003. He went on to earn an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of North Texas, College of Visual Art and Design in 2008. After graduating he moved back home to Houston and began teaching as an adjunct professor at various community colleges and working as an art teacher at Houston Independent School District. His work has been exhibited in various art fairs, featured at Houston’s Art Car Museum, the Beeville Art Museum, McMurtrey Gallery, and Zoya Tommy Contemporary Galley, where he is currently represented in Houston. In his current work he creates impasto paintings along with paint made to look and feel like ubiquitous objects relating to his studio practice like duct tape, plywood, red stickers using acrylic paint as a medium. His work explores the transformity of acrylic painting as a medium while maintaining a seductive, elegant quality. |
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ARTIST STATEMENT
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I titled this show after a fictional book exploring a concept of dark and light energy. The idea is that everyone has their dark energy to which we must carry with us and can bring out light energy within our lives when we delve into the depths of our own dark energy. Also, energy which we cannot detect but must be there in order to have an ever-expanding universe; dark energy is a necessary and healthy part of our existence. I have my dark energy, you have your own dark energy. I have also always thought similar things about many of the fine arts, which often explore a darker side of the human condition and we often never feel fulfilled until we do. At the same time as I came across this concept, my home for years was sold by the owners, leaving me “between studios” or borrowing places to make artwork. As you can imagine, it was a bitter pill to swallow. My usual meditative practice, turned darker in nature, yet it has brought on some interesting discoveries. Painting, whether to make an illusion or paint itself as a subject, the act of painting is a meditative experience, the work itself will take you where it wants to go if you listen, if done right will always tap into the subconscious.
This series of paintings explores a fixation with the processing and structure of acrylic paint itself, in a sculptural way. I first began to work this vein seven years ago with a series of paintings that depicted tape as a subject matter, made from acrylic paint. I learned I could manipulate acrylic paint to bend and fold it, drag it over surfaces, peel it off and reuse dried paint increasing the variability of acrylic paint as a medium. I use paint as a collage type of material, which I have combined with explorations of the physical characteristics of canvas, staples, and plywood. I enjoy pushing the conventions that confine artistic media, and particularly creating works of art that extend the boundaries of two-dimensional painting and composition. |
