Jeff Kowatch

Jeff Kowatch (1965, US) uses the same creative process on paper as on canvas in his latest series of drawings: dozens of layers of color on top of each other, systematically scraped off for months and painted over until the artwork is finished. Kowatch works on several pastels at the same time by gradually building up the color and intensity.

Jeff Kowatch uses a variety of techniques from which different series of work are created. In the Drawings series, his creative process involves glazing; the application of dozens of transparent layers of color on top of each other, systematically scraped off and painted over, slowly building up the color and intensity until the artwork is finished with an exceptionally soft-looking end result.

In his most recent Paintings series, Jeff Kowatch evolves to large-format oil crayons on Dibond. Through the innovative use of this substrate, on which photographs are normally printed, Kowatch is no longer bound by the limitations of paper and framing behind glass for his pastels. The vibrant colors of the "oilbars" (oil paint in bar form) used lend themselves perfectly to the raw energy of creation that Kowatch gives free rein to in these recent works.