"Visions and Images: Recent Paintings by John Jaegel"
2003-06-17 until 0000-00-00
Zeitgeist Gallery
Cambridge, MA, USA United States of America

American visual artist John Jaegel has an extensive career that spans over 40 years. For most of that time, his work has been primarily focused on nature scenes, nudes and portraits. However in 2001, a debilitating illness imposed on him a 6-month hiatus during which time he reconsidered his approach to his work. In an interview conducted this past February by Susie Davidson of the Cambridge Chronicle, Jaegel proclaimed that "as with other artists, past and present, I have a passion for paint as paint, color as an important element expressive of emotion and its qualities to give the illusion of form and space."

After all, painting an image on a flat surface is what it is all about, whether it is illusionistic or abstract. A revelation occurs each and every time I face a blank canvas. The task for me is to find the means, the language to create something from nothing; to gain a grip on a concept and follow it to resolution... While engaged in the pursuit of visual possibilities, I am often astounded by what occurs on the canvas. It's as if I am an instrument of some higher power which points the way, a transcendent experience at times irrational and mysterious." John Jägel now celebrates his personal transcendence in this solo exhibit at the Zeitgeist.

(Bio.) Born in New York City in 1929, John Jägel received a Diploma with honors from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (1955), as well as a BFA (1957) and an MFA (1958) in Painting from Yale University. Before his illness in 2001, Jägel had exhibited extensively throughout the Boston-area, including the Pepper Gallery, the Addison Gallery of American Art, and the Fogg Art Museum. His work is held in numerous private collections. Recently, John Jägel has been collaborating with artists from other disciplines, for example African drummer Jamey Smythe and African dancer Vida Everett.

IMAGE:
John Jaegel
Threshold, 2003
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas
62" x 70"

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Massachusetts

Other Important Exhibitions in Cambridge