Public Matter:
Jason REVOK

Jason REVOK

Library Street Collective’s 2022-2023 iteration of Public Matter features Detroit-based artist Jason REVOK, for which he has produced five Instrument Exercise paintings drawn from the existing landscape. In this series of work, REVOK relied on a self-made tool that holds multiple cans of spray paint and allows them to mark the surface simultaneously. The results are at once rigorous in their machine-like symmetry, and flawed due to the nature of spray paint as well as the human hand. Our shared spaces have long been an influential factor in REVOK’s practice, from creating countless outdoor installations to infusing his paintings with objects found throughout surrounding environments. In this way, the artist’s conceptual practice proves itself a seamless fit for the year-long exhibition. Building off of paper remnants from past installations, the paintings speak to the ever-changing nature of space, and visually relate to defining characteristics of the urban landscape, where worn posters lining the streets are commonplace. The paper underneath furthermore enhances qualities of texture amongst each painting’s surface. With the many competing elements at play in a public space—from weather to community and more—REVOK anticipates changes to occur to the paintings overtime, and gladly accepts this unavoidable component as part of their multifarious anatomy.