Jarrod Becker "Leavings" paintings and installation Feb. 28-Apr. 18, reception Sunday Mar. 23

Jarrod Becker

Leavings

paintings and installation
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February 28 - April 13

reception with the artist Sunday March 23, 2-4
artist talk and conversation at 3

resume


It’s all about the stories. It’s all about the objects I find in the world & nature, how they talk to me as I figure out myself and how I tell my story of being alive & alone in that place of left things in nature and the world. I have a great connection to story and melancholy. Things and places talk to me and those that tell a story of melancholy tell the strongest story to me.

My art has always been driven by my kinship and fondness towards the natural world. Believing every found object or seen creature on the trail, in the woods, on the beach, was telling me a story, I began applying my thoughts and tales to these things creating my own dialogue giving everything a voice which in turn included myself and my work. Making art and sharing this kinship and love for the natural world gave me the opportunity to share these stories with family, friends, and the world around me.

My art is a storied closeness of beauty & wonder found in the rawness and human humbleness of lack and imperfection, an ode to the ever-evolving dance between chaos and coziness, harmony, goodness and sadness that resides within us all.

All this through the messy and distinct handling of paint and mixed media. Mixed media enriches the layers of my work, offering a diverse palette that mirrors the multifaceted aspects of living. Incorporating elements such as collage, found objects, graphite, charcoal, and finally a vibrant color palette, each piece becomes a tactile and visual exploration of layered texture inviting viewers to engage with the artwork on multiple sensory levels. The diverse artistic approach ensures that each piece of work can stand alone in style, celebrating the ever-changing narrative of existence.

My work is driven by the belief that objects carry their own life and stories. By weaving my thoughts and personal narratives into found objects, I create a dialogue between memory, identity, and the world around me. This process transforms ordinary materials into vessels of history and emotion, allowing me to visually and physically explore the human experience. Nature is a constant muse in my work. Inspiration comes from the smallest details—a word, the scent of warm wool, painted road lines, shells in the sand, or even milk in a cereal bowl.

These seemingly mundane elements infuse my work with vitality and rhythm, encouraging viewers to connect with the pulse of the natural world. The human figure also serves as a central motif, acting as a conduit to explore our complex relationships with our environment and each other. Through expressive strokes and intentional chaos, I aim to capture the raw, untamed aspects of the human spirit, celebrating the fundamental goodness within us all.

Using mixed media—collage, found objects, graphite, charcoal, and paint, I build richly layered works that invite tactile and emotional engagement. My art is a celebration of imperfection, an ongoing exploration of the balance between chaos and harmony, and a testament to the quiet resilience embedded in everyday life.
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above: Live Bare (triptych) 48” x 72” oil, acrylic, graphite, on canvas

The painting [Live Bare, above] was created by imagery and experiences I had coming and going from Red River Gorge and the area around Natural Bridge, KY.

My family clan have routinely visited Slade, KY and the Red River Gorge area. Much of the imagery of the painting comes from a weekend spent in “The Gorge” right before that Monday that the US and everything in it shut down for the COVID 19 virus.

While in that area of the Gorge you routinely are rolling down canyon-like roads passing roadside food shops and makeshift tourist spots catering to campers and hikers peddling their wares of firewood, cork guns, and rubber snakes. Hence the name, “LIVE BARE.”

The idea of intense compression shaping the lives of the people, rock formations and the trees looking like survivors and stripped-bare veins and arteries, a sense of people getting down to essentials because they don't have a lot; that is quite true. The idea of having and taking very little except each other and sharing that experience if of limitations in nature is exactly what I consider the greatest beauty of all and I find the primitiveness of those experiences and the found objects discovered in nature during these events to be very comfortable, maybe romantic and very story like always lending themselves to my own personal story to who and what I am.

There’s a wonderful serenity and sadness I find in nature and in life that always causes me to laugh out loud.

above: Confined (detail) 48” x 48” oil, acrylic, graphite, charcoal on canvas
below: Confined ​(as installed)

Confined was painted as we were coming out of COVID. The immediate element of this painting is the multiple directional corner roadsign/s pointing in all directions. That idea of being lost in oneself in the middle of nowhere while also being in a position of the center of someplace with the opportunity of going anywhere. The sign itself is a relic, a leaving, or found object left behind. It feels very personal to me and a part of me even the old wood that makes up the sign. It feels somewhat ramshackle and raw that says again being less of greater material but feeling more of because of its lack. That in itself says great beauty to me and feels very human and of the heart. Further imagery in the piece consists of a collection of faces and loose renditions of screens mimicking the idea of being all together digitally but being very much alone.

above: Terrapin Unrest, 36” x 36” oil on canvas

That bed is actually an old metal hospital bed from my childhood. As a young person that was  my bed in my bedroom The quilt/s seen in the image actually exist and I still use to this day.  The chairs too, exist and were found in junk stores and antique stores, always looking for  something that speaks, tells its own story, and lends itself to mine. All of these things, chairs,  beds, and blankets are leavings or relics that find comfort, love, and solace in old things like  beds, chairs, and blankets. I look on these as leavings or relics that have their own story and relish the comfort that I find in them. There’s a closeness that they offer. The history and worn  are something that you can lean into as if you’re sharing an event, this lifetime together but  physically alone? Again, a lot of my work is melancholy, maybe trying to find the story the life in  old things? I think the turtle is me. 

above, below: Human Ground and Harmony of Motion of Tool-Relic and Tree Limb: The Dissonance of Progress Reflecting on the Evolution of Tools and Relics and the Growing Chasm with Nature various found natural, domestic and industrial objects, altered hand tools


The installation is crafted from natural found items to include tree branches and limbs, bones, rocks, and shells—alongside human tools, agricultural implements, and elements of recreation. It all serves as a visual narrative of dissonance. Each piece is a metaphorical exploration of the increasing distance between our daily lives and the untamed beauty of nature.

In the pursuit of efficiency and innovation, our tools have become more advanced in weight, shape, size, material, and aesthetic design enabling us to manipulate our surroundings with unprecedented precision while looking good doing it. However, the efficiency and aesthetic has led to a detachment from the tactile, immediate connection with nature. The allure of screens, the hum of machinery, and the convenience of synthetic materials contribute to a sense of separation from the primal rhythms of the natural world.