Jonathan Barcan
2 Op Collective has their eyes on Jonathan Barcan! Here are some examples of his work:
Between Wake and Sleep (Diptych), 50″ x 112″, Graphite, Ink, Oil, and Wine on Paper, 2012
Flooded #22, 50″ x 110″, Walnut Ink on Paper, 2012
Flooded #28, 50″ x 132″, Graphite, Ink, Oil, and Wine on Paper, 2012
Pendulum #2, 27″ x 50″ (Diptych), Oil on Canvas, 2011
Q. Tell us about your work?
A. The focus of my creative and scholarly attention is to sort out the ways in which people relate to one another. There are 3 distinct states within the human experience that I struggle to reconcile:
1. Mankind as an instinctual animal, directly connected to the earth with all of its’ flora and fauna.
2. Mankind as an evolved, socially conscious being, that must consider both the individual and the community at large.
3. Mankind as a fractured being, whose constant engagement within the sociological environment of virtual technology and mass media inherently separates him/her from their physiology.
I chiefly investigate these themes through the texts of Jean-Paul Sartre, David Abram, and Alan Watts that examine Modern ideas of Phenomenology and Ethics, and also through the texts of Guy Debord that examine Post-Modern ideas of Media Commoditization and Globalization. I am fascinated that today Humankind exists somewhere between these three states, which run closely parallel to one another yet seldom overlap.
Recently, I’ve addressed the unresolvability of my beliefs by posing two pivotal questions:
1. Is there any sort of parallel that can be drawn through the pure substance of which human beings are made and the interactions that they have?
2. How is virtual human interaction affecting actual human interaction?
Formally, I draw from the history of visual figuration through such Modern masters as Egon Scheile, Hanneline Rogeberg, William Kentridge, and Nathan Oliveira. In my work, I give myself specific rules that limit material and process within each individual series, as a means for isolating and addressing very specific aspects of my differing philosophical interests.
Q. What advice do you have for your peers?
A. Read everyday. Make art everyday. Document your work as often as you can. Get your work out into the real and virtual world (different websites/blogs/BSP’s) as regularly as you can. Don’t be afraid to tell people what your artistic goals are.
Q. Where can we learn more about you and your work?
A. Please check out my website for more info: www.JonathanBarcan.com
2 Op Collective 