This is the most extraordinary art show that I've ever been involved with. It makes very clear the audacity of Jeff Schaller, Rhoda Kahler, Jamie Paxson and Adrian Martinez. We all kept upping the ante and continually topping ourselves. Particularly Rhoda and Jeff. They created never seen before masterpieces up to the last minute.
Jeff had a carefully painted giant splatter on a wall he built for the show (yes he built an entire wall). This very splatter was included in a painting and a print for the show. "It's vectored so you can blow it up without distortion" he explained. You can't make this stuff up.
In a sense, the wall and everything hanging on it can be seen as one gigantic piece. It's brash, assertive, full of the self confident brio that Jeff does so well. On the other hand, with a closer look (Jeff's work always requires a closer look) you realize he's pictured his entire family, including their dog "Pooh." His work can be funny, whimsical, clever, but it's always filled with a joy and tenderness that is never too far from a certain melancholy that makes his work profound.
His superb technique gets him out of every difficulty except where he chooses to walk on the razors edge. Reproductions never capture any original, but the magic of Jeff's encaustic paintings is particularly difficult to communicate in a mechanical reproduction. This may be one reason why he's so seriously involved with creating prints using serigraphs and half a dozen other exotic processes. Prints make up a significant part of Jeff's oeuvre. If you're lucky enough to own one of his paintings, you've really got to get some of his prints and oil stick drawings as well.
There is now no doubt.... Jeff is a great artist. Get the word out. Five weeks left for the show.
Adrian
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