The hard edges of reality have been laid bare in recent years. Change in equal measure was the noise and the silence, both certain and constant. Our voices were magnified internally, and the experience was divided: we either adapted and bended with the winds of change or evolved into a hardened resolve.
Jai Vasicek believes that by embracing the inevitability of change, and not just acknowledging it, he has been gifted great lessons, “I feel everything I’ve gone through has prepared me for this time. I came out in my twenties, and it wasn’t until then that I experienced the blossoming of my transformation, when I let it be.”
“I learned that even in difficult times, life didn’t stop for me. I think this is deeply connected to our experience with nature. When life unfolds, we can become consumed by it and ignore the cycles in nature that teach us lessons, but it’s right here in front of us, letting us know that while the environment might be harsh or still or unpredictable, life goes on.” says Jai.
Inspired by nature’s darling of change and transformation, Jai’s latest body of work Mariposa – which means butterfly in Spanish and moth in Portuguese – exhibits at the Fenton & Fenton Showroom from 17 - 27 February 2022. “I’ve had so many encounters with caterpillars, moths, and butterflies since I began building my new home in Newrybar. I’d never seen the magical process of this metamorphosis before. Change is a force of nature. The caterpillar trusts in the process to become what they are destined to be.”
Mariposa is a collection of paintings that present women embodying a butterfly or moth species through pose, gesture and clothing, “Fabric is the best way to interpret the body of a being. I wanted to translate nature into fabric worn by my muses, but the art chooses what it wants to be. I might set out with an idea for how I want to paint, then I feel the character and it wants to be what it wants to be. I fight with my paintings all the time, but that’s when the magic happens, when I’m in the chaos of it!” says Jai.
Juxtaposing colours capture the beauty and monstrosity that underpins the balance of nature, while each piece plays with the luminescence of light, “I worked with iridescent paint so that as you walk around the room you’ll focus on different elements of the art, much like how a butterfly or moth moves and with that movement we see changing flecks of colour.”
“I believe that we connect with art to feel something, to experience colour and frequency and it always comes back to meaning something to you. When I live each day with the strongest intentions, when I’m present and trust in the process of change, I’m being true to who I am. Mariposa is an expression of how I feel about life.”
