TURN OF THE TIDE

A ONE-MAN EXHIBITION FEATURING JAYSON CORTEZ’S PICTORIAL RUMINATIONS ON FATHERHOOD, BEING BURNT OUT, AND REBIRTH

CURATED BY PATRICK DE VEYRA

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die… a time to break down, and a time to build up… a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together…” – King Solomon

Beauty comes from rebirth as new life emerges from the ashes of what once was. Like the infinite sea that is ever shifting yet unchanging, the enigma of life is that it calls for us to be ever-evolving yet unwavering. As Salvador Dalí once said, “Everything alters me, but nothing changes me.” To be and to become, such is the cosmic dance of life.

Faced with a creative and existential “dead-end,” Jayson Cortez, found himself trapped in a state of being chronically burnt out after decades of uninterrupted studio practice. It was this season of creative drought and mental and physical fatigue that unexpectedly ushered in a season of reframing and rebirth. After a disheartening period of shadowboxing with himself, Cortez acknowledged that for new and meaningful work to be produced, he must learn to wholeheartedly accept the ebb and flow of his life.

“I was on the verge of giving up on my artistic practice. Full stop, no turning back. I was having conversations with myself about quitting. Day and night, I was haunted by the thought of just painting the same imagery again and again without an end in sight. I needed to rediscover my creative voice in this season of my life. I needed to find myself again.” – Jayson Cortez

Echoing the words of Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Change is the only thing constant. As if tossed and turned by a succession of waves, Cortez momentarily felt lost at sea. Set against an ever-changing cultural and geopolitical landscape, Cortez had to contend with the reality of fatherhood and the responsibility of rearing a child in today’s complex and oftentimes convoluted world.

Embracing his role as a father allowed him to explore, in a much deeper and deliberate sense, the image of the mother and child. For Cortez, the repeated depiction of the mother and child is his way of commemorating not only maternal affection but his role as husband and father. “Painting the image of the mother and child is, for me, an act of love. With warmth and gratitude, I paint with a father’s gaze. I wholeheartedly embrace my role as a father by painting images that beautifully epitomize how I view my wife and my child. The symbolism of the mother and child also healed me of my fears about being a father in such a time as this. In fact, there are moments when I see myself being reborn much like the infant held by the mother in the painting. Innocent, curious, and free of fear.” – Jayson Cortez

The subject has been an enduring and indelible theme in art history. From the Renaissance to Modern and Contemporary Art, it holds universal relevance as it highlights the primal and unbreakable bond between a mother and her child. For centuries, artists have explored a complex range of concepts such as love, joy, tenderness, vulnerability, healing, renewal, and rebirth through the depiction maternal affection.

For Cortez, a huge part of what healed him from being chronically burnt out was his reframing not only of the mother and subject also of his visual language in general. Known for his fantastical compositions and surreal imagery that are painstakingly executed with an undeniable degree of hyperrealism, Cortez opted to deviate from the image distillation, atmospheric quality, and color harmony of his past works by meticulously replicating photographs of objects and figures that are heavily drenched in white paint. Cortez believes that the act of drenching objects, figures, and surfaces in thick white paint symbolizes both the ideas of obscurity/death and rebirth. As his subjects are partially or wholly covered in white pigment, the viewers are given the opportunity to perceive that which is familiar in a new light.

Like phantom objects and figures emerging behind a veil of white paint, Cortez’s body of work in his one-man show “Turn of the Tide” reflects the artist’s longing for personal healing, renewal, and rebirth.