JACKSON, Wyo. — Altamira Fine Art presents a solo exhibition from Utah-based artist Jared Sanders, on display Aug. 15 to 26. Don’t miss the special artist reception on Aug. 17 from 5 to 8 p.m. during the ArtWalk.
Patience and humility guide Jared Sanders: “I’m still learning how to paint,” he says. “Each painting teaches me something new.”
In this open-minded state, Sanders allows ideas to germinate before coming to fruition as finished paintings. “Some ideas I’ve been thinking about for several years,” Sanders says. “I haven’t quite figured out how to get them on canvas. Maybe they are too far of a leap. Sometimes, things that I learn from one painting make other ideas in my head finally possible.”
Take, for example, his nuanced concept for a barn scene: Sanders imagines a sketch-like structure, loose yet resolved, with a composition unified by a monochromatic palette. “I know what I want to accomplish with it — almost a large-scale sketch,” he says. “I haven’t done it yet, but I think I might actually be able to paint what’s in my head now.”
His handling of materials often makes the difference: the types of brushes or paints he uses; his application techniques; to frame or not to frame. “I’ve finally evolved to where some paintings won’t have frames and others will. This barn painting hopefully won’t have a frame — that’s part of what’s held me back.”
His patience now extends to allowing pauses in his praxis: “Over the years, I have found there are pauses in the work where new possibilities and new ideas come together,” he says. “If I’m working nonstop in the studio, painting one painting after another without a break, the work can become formulaic.”
“When I was a lot younger, I would just crank out paintings, saying ‘No’ to everything else. Part of that was good — it helped forward my career,” Sanders reflects. Decades on, he now values space away from his easel. “I have learned to do a lot of the problem-solving in my head when I’m not in the studio,” he says.
With such rumination comes the danger of overthinking specific elements. “Each mark matters, but at the same time, can’t be too important or else it will become stagnant, or eclipse the overall effect of the painting,” he says. “This is the part of the process that I’m working on: I’m trying to overcome my natural tendency to be stiff and controlled by exploring ways of applying paint that feel more free-flowing and natural.”
For more information about Sanders and his new paintings, please contact Altamira Fine Art by email — connect@altamiraart.com — or phone — (307) 739-4700.
