Study for The Birth of Doubt Acrylic on Arches paper

Jason Stopa

Jason Stopa paints works that engage with the potential of gestural abstraction in the digital age. Although he attributes techniques and forms from the history of painting, Stopa’s paintings are situated in contemporary culture, where analog and digital are intertwined. Carrying the notion that painting is “about color as light and light as space,” Stopa creates works such as Green Window (2018) that have arranged colorful forms over a simplified layout of defined lines and opaque colors obscuring the viewer’s perception of foreground and background. His works convey happiness and positivity, praising the color’s powerful capabilities. Created with immediacy, Stopa quickly applies layers of oil paint with large strokes that call into question the urgency of creating and viewing when viewers are spammed in virtual imagery. His inclusion of impastoed areas reminds the viewer of the painting’s physical existence and materiality and not a momentary digital creation. He earned his BFA from Indiana University and his MFA from Pratt Institute, where he teaches.