Samuel deconstructs language into objects. His approach to narrative and structure is intentionally inventive and fragmentary. Vibrant, colourful canvases are covered in words or phrases that can be assembled, reassembled and taken apart. Yet they still retain some sense of meaning. The small canvases that make up the exhibition echo the intimacy of the book page or the spoken word. The content is captured from his experience of urban space, particularly in New York City. The artist notes down snippets of conversation, advertising slogans and social phrases which become the starting point for series of paintings that expose the emotional litmus of the city, and play with the history and experience of painting itself.
A limited edition zine will be available - it includes reproductions of works in the show alongside an interview between curator Francesca Gavin and Samuel Jablon. And, to coincide with the exhibition a selection of new drawings will be on view in the vitrine at B.R.Club, Ballon Rouge’s space in Brussels.
Samuel Jablon is an artist and poet who explores the discursivity and visuality of art and poetry, as well asthe interconnection and possibilities of these two forms. He has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (NY), The Queens Museum, MOCAD Detroit, Hauser & Wirth, Storefront for Art and Architecture, The Kitchen, Artists Space, with solo exhibitions at Freight + Volume (NY), Arts + Leisure (NY), and Diane Rosenstein (LA). His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Art in America, ARTnews, The Brooklyn Rail, BOMB, Interview Magazine, and others.
Francesca Gavin is a writer and curator based in London. She is the Art Editor of Twin, editor at large at Kaleidoscope and contributing editor at Good Trouble, Beauty Papers and Semaine.com. She was the co-curator of the Historical Exhibition of Manifesta11 and has curated internationally, written six books, and contributed to numerous publications including The Financial Times, Dazed, Cura, Mousse, AnOther Man and Vogue. She has a monthly radio show on art and music called Rough Version on NTS Radio.
Samuel Jablon
Don’t Panic
curated by Francesca Gavin
309 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 6AH
June 21 - July 7, 2019
Opening June 21, 6-9 PM