Peter Blum is pleased to announce the exhibition Jason Fox: The Upper Depths, opening on January 15th at 99 Wooster Street, New York. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, January 15th, from 6 to 8 p.m. This will be Jason Fox’s first exhibition with the gallery.

The Upper Depths consists of a grouping of about 25 acrylic on canvas paintings which Jason Fox has produced over the last 3 years. Moving away from his previous use of cartoonish pop imagery with psychodelic undertones, he has instead begun to explore the possibilities of abstraction. Fox’s rethinking of scale has resulted in zooming into specific details that consequently increased the size of his mark making, allowing his gestures to become more painterly and less graphic. Fox applies the paint thinly, with loose brushstrokes and a restricted palette. The predominant color in The Upper Depths is red, which he is interested in because of the color’s optical immediacy as well as its historic and political meanings. On another level he thinks of these red paintings as visual equivalents to punk or loud rock music. Keenly aware of the history of 20th century painting, he plays with a variety of references from concepts of Cubism and Abstract Expressionism to the influence of Joseph Beuys (in particular his drawings), A.R. Penck and Martin Kippenberger.

Jason Fox was born in 1964 in Yonkers, New York. He currently lives and works in Poughkeepsie, New York. Fox received a B.F.A. from Cooper Union, New York and a M.F.A from Columbia University, New York. National and international solo exhibitions include shows at Feature Inc., New York; Mario Diacono at Ars Libri, Boston; Greener Pastures Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada; and at the Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City. Past group shows include Every Revolution is a Roll of Dice organized by Bob Nickas at Paula Cooper Gallery and at the Ballroom Marfa, Texas; That is Then…This is Now and Greater New York at P.S.1, New York; and Drunk vs. Stoned at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise.