JAIK FAULK // radio on the beach

On view November 1 - December 8, 2013
Opening reception First Friday, November 1 (6 p.m. - 9 p.m.)

During an intimate conversation recorded and broadcast by the New York City public radio station WBAI in July 1966, avant-garde composers John Cage and Morton Feldman discuss the role of culture within everyday life. Like rock ’n’ roll music blaring from a nearby transistor radio at an otherwise serene beach, culture may be seen as an intrusion upon personal experience. However, such interferences do not always necessitate passive submission. Instead, Cage argues, you simply must pay attention, adjust, and make culture your own.

Following this advice, the paintings on view in Jaik Faulk’s solo exhibition at Nationale, Radio on the Beach, function more as incisive, than oppressive, intrusions of reality. While inspired by a variety of found and personal sources, his rich abstractions present the viewer with ample space for their own interpretations. Combining the smoky roughness and stuttering quality of his characteristically lean brushstrokes with a haunting palette of earthy pigments, the work hovers somewhere between memories and dreams. This elusive quality, both known and intangible, also suggests the underlying solidarity during such moments of perceived alienation as being caught in a thunderstorm. Similar to Cage and Feldman’s musical compositions, through these past, present, and future evocations, painting for Faulk becomes a leveling field wherein his intrusions might reveal and animate new shared experiences.

BIO
A native of Acadiana in southern Louisiana, Jaik Faulk currently works and resides in San Francisco, CA where he received his MFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute this year. Radio on the Beach marks his third solo exhibition at his representative gallery, Nationale. 

To request a price list for this exhibition, please email info@nationale.us