www.jaseking.eu

Growing crystals directly onto the canvas is a process of collaboration with nature in Jase King’s practice. He creates the conditions for the work to form, while relinquishing control over how it ultimately reveals itself. The crystallisation mimics processes found naturally across the world, particularly in salt flats, where water, minerals, temperature and time leave behind intricate crystalline landscapes as evaporation takes place.
While the crystals are forming, King introduces sound frequencies through a frequency device directed at the work. The vibration allows him to influence, to a certain degree, the way the crystals grow and the shapes and formations they take.
He can encourage a direction, but he can never completely dictate the outcome.
There is always an element beyond his control, and that unpredictability is an essential part of the process.
Once the crystals have formed, King returns to the work, colouring, painting and treating the surfaces, responding intuitively to the formations nature has given him.
The process becomes a conversation between what has grown organically and what he chooses to emphasise, conceal or transform through his own hand.
Only then does the work undergo its final transformation. It is left under the sun.
Light becomes the final material in the process.
As the sun’s rays interact with the pigments and treated surface, certain areas gradually leave behind delicate white specks and constellations scattered throughout the work.
King deliberately allows this to happen rather than attempting to preserve complete uniformity. These marks become traces of exposure, time and circumstance.
Throughout the process, King’s role shifts between artist, observer and collaborator.
He establishes the conditions, uses sound to influence the growth, responds through colour and paint, and then surrenders the final gesture to sunlight and time.
The finished canvas becomes a record of that exchange, part intention, part natural phenomenon and part chance. He never has absolute control over what the work will become and that is precisely the point.