Beautifully rendered paintings by Jake Wood-Evans, like fractured memories or flashes of dreams, recall details of iconic imagery with poignant, film-like atmosphere. Having won a scholarship to study at the Prado Museum by the Royal Academy, the Brighton-based artist’s interest in classical art is obvious in the allusions to specific masterpieces he uses as subjects of his paintings. Rather than imitations or studies of classical art, he draws and paints a record of artistic effect and visual impact, uniquely recording the emotional reaction and the impression left by each of the visions he depicts. Having a clear baroque influence, his work retains a distinctly contemporary feel. His work has an etherial quality often lending a strange glow to the subject of his work, rendering it saint-like. The brushstrokes from thin to thick, watery and expressive to sharp and precise, focuses attention on particular details leaving room for interpretation. The ghostly, intangible imagery of Wood-Evans’ paintings and drawings stay with his audience like childhood stories, fragmented visions, precious in their nostalgic familiarity yet nightmarish and enigmatic. This uncertainty lends his work an excitement, child-like curiosity and feverish sense of anticipation present in the most explicit and detailed allegories.
