In the heyday of the Audart Gallery, Jake Stone's ability to transform difficult spaces into magic was called upon regularly, when the gallery had to be changed from a spaceship-like interior to that of a POP Factory to welcome the Artists of the Warhol Circle, or an elegant banquet area for a Wall Street area corporate function. The ambling space that had once been a bank was filled with miracles waiting to happen, including a number of enormous steel doors that were common throughout the gallery. Stone, of his own volition, became the door artist; stripping off layers of industrial materials to uncover the beauty beneath and knowing, instinctively, how to treat the surfaces he was constantly revealing, often for the first time. Imagine 8000 square feet of white metal floor tiles - elevated floor tiles - that once served the busy German Bank, being flipped over, one by one, to reveal a gleaming surface of polished steel. In a matter of weeks, the Audart Gallery had a floor that took people's breath away. Imagine that same floor illuminated from beneath with tiny lights softly glowing between each tile - the entire length of the Gallery. It is little wonder the media described the gallery as a spaceship. Everything Jake Stone worked on became cool, beautiful and ultimately interesting. In 1999, Jake Stone returned to a passion that began in France in the mid-1990's - painting on paper, on vinyl and on many different and interesting surfaces and experimenting with pigment and with texture. His 2001 body of work is a series of life's moments portrayed on heavy paper, using spray paint and a variety of combed tools. Photographing his paintings is always an exercise in frustration. It simply isn't possible to capture his mastery of color in a photograph. It is hard to imagine that these works were executed on mere paper. Some of Stone's works have the quality of glazed canvas; others feel like embossed vinyl or oil cloth. To the eye, each is a jewel; sometimes whimsical, sometimes capturing a more serious side of life and a more somber side of the artist. But, the moment, as it is captured, is never static. With the fun of POP and the whisper of Zen, they are the paintings of a metropolitan futurist. Jake Stone is currently in Ireland, while maintaining close ties to New York city. He continues to create interior spaces, to paint both traditionally and digitally, and to compose music. Audrey Regan Creative Director The Audart Gallery New York city |