In a solo show at Reuben Saunders Gallery, Needham utilizes vibrant hues to acknowledge the quiet comfort and abundance of nature.
Recently, a friend mentioned that a tree’s roots go as deep into the earth as the tree itself is tall. I think about that bit of trivia every single day — about the abundance of nature, above us and below us. Jason Needham’s “Borderland: New Landscape Paintings” exhibition, on view at Reuben Saunders Gallery through May 30, explores that bounty.
In the title piece “Borderland,” Needham depicts fallen branches and bark as they intermingle with the vibrancy of the forest undergrowth. The pale tans and soft browns form rigid, linear breaks in the otherwise lush greens, yellows, and cobalt blues of the organic shapes sprinkling the space around tree trunks.
This linear break slices the composition diagonally, from top left to bottom right. The effect is one of separating the intimate richness of the foreground and more unbending, upright nature of the background. The cool-colored bark is a stark contrast that highlights not only the hues of the undergrowth, but also the layered colorblocking and blotching of other shapes. Deep in the foliage are even smaller line breaks — shadows, perhaps — that reinforce this difference. They play off the various greens, from lime, to kelly, to forest.
While viewing this work (and others by Needham), I found myself wanting to reach out and touch the lines, to trace the texture of bark. Indeed, Needham uses different brushstroke techniques for the bark in each of his paintings. Some bark he creates through layering large swathes of color, black on top of orange on top of yellow; some he portrays as a pulling away of color through imperfect lines, as if he ran his finger along the slowly drying blues to create texture through absence; and some bark — like that in “Borderland” — he renders through cool, single-color, opaque brushstrokes.
The ways Needham represents bark vary throughout the show, but the color palette remains consistent, creating a throughline, a general envelopment, in the eight pieces on view.
While “Borderland” features the interplay of tree, bark, and ground cover, “Wild Morning” imagines a curtain of growth pushing up from the ground. Needham is a master of layering color, and his aplomb is on display in this 48-by-36-inch canvas. Oranges cover cobalt; forest greens layer atop softer blue hues; and, in the far depths of the painting, pink and fuchsia pop.
Needham’s brushstrokes in this piece are wide, languid, yet assertive. These bushes and hedges are firmly rooted in the landscape; they might sway in a gentle breeze, but they remain. Again, Needham plays with contrast, light and dark, foreground and background; he also challenges the viewer with perspective, top and bottom. He achieves a balance in this painting, and it’s a reflection of the same balance nature personifies.
“Shadow Kingdom” features a house hidden in the depths of the landscape — the only painting on display to indicate human footprints on the terrain. The house cuts a horizontal line across the background with a subtle red and blue that takes shape at the conclusion of a yellow path. Also unique to this work is the clear presence of autumnal colors: gold, ochre, red, and orange. There’s a sense of sunsetting — not in the literal sense — that shows the end of a cycle and the comfort of a home nestled in nature. The golden leaves have yet to blanket the forest floor, but a small pile in the foreground indicates the inevitable. “Shadow Kingdom” is comforting, and I’d gladly cozy up to the fireplace in Needham’s imagined dwelling place.
“Untitled — River” stands out due to Needham’s use of pastels, yet the comfort and quietude so apparent in his other works show up just as prominently here. This piece, palid and unassuming, is paired with “Untitled — Forest,” and the two are noticeably smaller than the grand scale of the other canvases on display (they are both 16 by 16 inches). It’s in “Untitled — River” that the viewer can clearly see Needham’s use of an impressionist style, where his brushstrokes are obvious, varied in length, and reminiscent of Claude Monet’s. The water in “Untitled — River” goes from murky greens and browns to slowly meandering blues and purples, and then it meets the viewer in the foreground with more rapidly flowing blues and oranges.
The overall experience of Jason Needham’s “Borderland” exhibition— through its texture, color, depth, and contrast — is encompassing, as though the viewer could step through, into the canvas, and onto the soft, variable undergrowth. The bark yearns to be touched, the yellow path to the house begs to be found, and the abundance of nature all around longs to be acknowledged.
This piece – originally written for The SHOUT – was first published on Sunday, May 17. You can read the article on The SHOUT’s website by clicking HERE.
shelly. walston. writes. 