Untitled, 2021

Jordan Kerwick  

Jordan Kerwick has swiftly garnered global acclaim for his audacious, unapologetic approach to color palettes and patterns, crafting vibrant, expressionistic, and highly-stylized compositions. His canvases teem with an eclectic array of subjects, ranging from everyday objects to formidable predators and mythical creatures. Taxidermy rugs adorned with geometric designs, double-headed king cobras, fierce fanged tigers, and feathered unicorns populate his figurative works, weaving together a modern-day folklore that exudes playfulness, dynamism, and mystique.

While renowned for his vivid, diverse still-life paintings, Kerwick's most recent body of work delves deeper into the fantastical realms of his inner imagination, where uncharted territories collide. He employs a diverse array of materials, including oil, acrylics, and spray paint on canvas, along with oil sticks and collage on paper, embracing a 'the more mistakes, the merrier' philosophy that revels in the serendipitous interplay of unexpected color combinations, textures, and forms.

Kerwick's striking visual language is deeply rooted in his domestic, homebound lifestyle. It intertwines elements of art history with ancient iconography, blending symbols from Egyptian art with the bold, electrifying color schemes reminiscent of comic book heroes and villains. Beyond the captivating pictorial universes and fantastical figurative characters that frequent his canvases, Kerwick meticulously considers the gestural and the abstract, crafting richly tactile, boldly vibrant, and flattened compositions. His fresh and authentic lexicon of shapes and colors draws inspiration from giants of abstract expressionism, minimalism, and hard-edged painting, paying homage to artists like Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Agnes Martin, and the timeless genius of Henri Matisse, whose influences permeate his creative impulse.

Jordan Kerwick, born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, is a self-taught artist who embarked on his painting career in 2016. Recent solo exhibitions include Allouche Benais Gallery in Athens, Greece (2021); Galerie Julie Cadet in Paris, France (2021); Union Gallery in London, England (2021); Pt. 2 Gallery in Oakland, California (2021 and 2019); Piermarq* in Sydney, Australia (2020 and 2018); Anna Zorina Gallery in New York (2019); a dual exhibition at Masahiro Maki Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France (2019); TW Fine Art in Brisbane, Australia (2019); and Delphian Gallery in London, United Kingdom (2018)