Exploring Depths: A Review of Jasmine Novack's Underwater Art at SAM Gallery
Seattle Art Museum Gallery presents: Jasmine Novack's "Emerald Descent," May 1 - June 2, 2024
Note: I have no connection with the Seattle Art Museum Gallery. I met Jasmine Novak at the opening of a Figure Ground Gallery exhibition a few months ago, where I was one of the artists showing. She showed me some of her paintings on her phone, and I was so impressed that I offered to write a review when she had her next show.
Art has the ability to not only show us the world around us, but can also take us to the stars and plunge us into unknown depths. It delves into philosophy, psychology, shadowed selves, and the sublime. Shadow is to light what the subconscious is to cognition, and through art, the exploration of one complements the other—indeed, there is no light without shadow. But rarely do we think of the subterranean psyche as the necessary component of enlightenment. Jasmine Novack’s art uses the exploration of the underwater world as a metaphor for examining what lies beneath the surface.
Steadfast, oil with gold leaf on canvas, 48 x 60 in.
Novack is an oil painter who incorporates gold leaf to create shimmering highlights. She gives the paint a buttery smooth texture that effortlessly blends from one group of colors to the next. The paintings range from large to intimate, small ones.
Novack has been a cold diver for 16 years and uses her underwater photography as references for her paintings. Novack says, “My paintings are a product of my journey into self-exploration and are a reflection of my longing to know the unknown parts of the ocean, and the unknown parts of myself."
Jasmine Novack, photo: Miles Media
Novack is adept at creating spatial depth, a technique that gently pulls us into the flow of the blue, black, and turquoise-colored currents, notably in Steadfast, Light and Love, and Salt of the Earth. In Steadfast, the spatial depth is accented by three orange-yellow seaweed air bladders placed in painted space. The orange-scarlet in the foreground shifts to yellow-ochre in the background. These orange lights serve as beacons, guiding us through the underworld. I can’t help but draw the analogy that, just as these air-filled beacons are underwater landmarks, we humans, filled with water, serve as anchors in our airy realm.
On a purely technical view, I'm impressed by how effortlessly she paints form. Notice in Light and Love the ribbons of the fronds, and how they have gentle, curvy shapes that bend and fold to the current and to the light.
Light and Love, oil with gold leaf on canvas, 12 x 12 in.
Salt of the Earth, oil with gold leaf on canvas, 48 x 60 in.
Another of her large paintings, Salt of the Earth, and I can't help but see the suggestion of a dark human figure, head bowed, surrounded by golden-lit strands of locks. The painting gives a brooding, dark feeling, but the golden fronds seem to offer optimistic strands of thought.
As Above, oil with gold leaf on canvas, 30 x 48 in.
Novak also makes use of abstraction of positive and negative shapes to wonderfully balanced compositions. Perhaps it's the underwater scenes that make this seem so effortlessly natural, as we can see in As Above.
Sanctuary, oil with gold leaf on canvas, 24 x 30 in.
A delightful contrast in color scheme is seen in Sanctuary: variations of gray purples complemented by dark rust colors and ochre lights, camouflaged except for some telling details—a crab, perhaps looking at us from his home's doorway.
Current show at SAM Gallery presents: Emerald Descent, May 1 - June 2, 2024
As I've suggested earlier, I like to think of these underwater scenes as a metaphor for our subconscious. It's a different world from the one we normally think in, where objects and things have concrete weight. Underneath, they flow weightlessly with the currents. By shifting our perspective to view this underwater world, we might be able to more easily shift our conscious minds to examine our subconscious?
Reviewed by Michael Newberry, author of The Art Studio Companion: A Master Class for Artists. Thank you for exploring Jasmine Novack's underwater world with me.
SAM Gallery is housed within the Seattle Art Museum, local artists find support while their works are made available for both 3-months rental or purchase. For inquiries or questions about the collection, viewers can contact SAM Gallery by phone at 206-343-1101 or SAMGallery@seattleartmuseum.org. SAM Gallery is located on the street level of the Seattle Art Museum, on 1st Avenue between Union and University Streets. Times: Open Wednesday–Sunday, 10 am–5 pm, during museum hours. https://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/seattle-art-museum
Stunning @Michael Newberry! I am a scuba diver, although I haven’t gone in many years. But she is captures the soft movement and peacefulness of the seaweed as it beautifully sways in the water. On the surface of the ocean is so chaotic and disturbed, but underneath there is serenity and calmness.
Another amazing artist. Thank you Michael.