Exhibition of Recent Drawings, Plume21, Seattle 2012

Jacques Roch’s drawings tell a narrative that comes close to the edge of a nightmarish darkness. It does not cross and plunge into this darkness, though, and instead winks at you, taking a last minute playful turn with sexual daydreams and humorous, childlike narrative. A distant threat and the intensity remain but a beam of play transforms it into a smile. The line is exquisitely facile and forms described with sumptuous and lusty zeal.

The drawings have a disruptive presence and are a prominent layer in Roch’s paintings as well. But his use of color mitigates their muted screams or chuckled laughter and introduces light and space that extend the dream into a revelation of cherished memory. The colors recall pallets of Les Fauves and map a connection with Derain and early Matisse. They speak of sun warmed, pink-rust, Provencal stucco walls and crisp yellow-green of spring air. They describe a dream of morning sky of the delicate light blue your mind can smell.

Tomek Lamprecht, June 2012