Koppel’s oil on burlap/jute paintings appear as spontaneous compositions, prehistoric or antique landscapes that reach toward an understanding of what can be universally communicated, each probing at how the knowledge of our own eye and its languages of symbols and meaning, evolves through civilization. This approach provides an easy access to painting, eliminating high concept, and stems from the artist’s long-running study of the works of Chicago imagism. Artists like Ed Paschke, Karl Wirsum, or Roger Brown are readily apparent touchstones for Koppel as he shapes out a new visual architecture for approaching the question of how we actually see in the 21st century.

Point to any part of Koppel's paintings and you will see something -- something that can be said in a word. There is no ambiguity to what is depicted, no gesture or expressive use of material, no nod to the flatness of the picture plane. Koppel's abstraction occurs in the space between symbol and meaning. Lips can mean language or thought while also bringing a smile to the painting. Koppel enjoys this play between the pictorial meaning and an abstract, designated meaning. When we gaze upon the world and see text, we see two things at once. Like the ancient Egyptians and their technology of hieroglyphics - works can be symbols, symbols can make images, and images can form sentences. Nature and text can be one.

Jonah Koppel (b. 1978, Chicago) lives and works in Chicago. Past exhibitions of Koppel’s work include Jonah Koppel (2013) at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery in New York, Towards a New Impending Idiot Utopia (2011) at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery in New York, NeoCon (2005) at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in New York, and Time and Ebb (2004) at Rivington Arms in New York. Koppel received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2001.

CURRICULUM VITAE

EXHIBITIONS

November 20th 2020 - January 31st 2021
Jonah Koppel