JACK SCHAFFER

My work can be characterized as appearing to be created by accident and chance but really is highly planned.  I seek, in my paintings, to achieve an optical field. This sometimes appears to be mystical, sometimes surrealistic or a purely abstract image on a two-dimensional plane.

As an artist working in many styles through the years I have developed my method of drip painting incorporating at times themes and political content.  I create paintings that are not only visually descriptive but contemporary in scope.  Most people would describe my work as Abstract Expressionism but in reality it is a blending of many styles. I have built upon Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism to create my paintings.  My 54 years of painting in various styles has evolved into my present style.

I prefer to leave it to others to give a name to my style of painting.  I work in Acrylic House paint on canvas or on paper.  My technique of applying paint is reminiscent of the technique of Jackson Pollock.  Dribbles, splatters, drips and squiggles are essentials in creating my paintings.  Although Janet Sobel and Jackson Pollock pioneered the drip technique of painting, we must acknowledge that this painting technique was influenced by artists that came before them. Surrealists dripped paint in their works in the thirties. It is also clearly evident in the works of Max Ernst, Andre Masson and Hans Hoffman. The difference was that Janet Sobel and Jackson Pollock created complete paintings in the Drip Method, as I do.

The creativity an artist displays, can always be compared to others, but is exclusively owned by the Artist.  I express my inner self by drawing upon my conscious and subconscious mind, the Spirit and the Real world to attain the results I seek.


"SCHAFFER SEDUCES US INTO PAYING ATTENTION"
  William Zimmer, contributing art critic, New York Times

Artists who go against the grain make you take notice.  Most people would say it is folly to do drip paintings.  Jackson Pollock is joined at the hip to his signature style.

Jack Schaffer is plunging in however, and in doing so has extended the reach of the style.  In adopting drip painting he has forced a style that is uniquely his.  For Pollock, dripping was the way to pure abstraction, but Schaffer uses a skein of dripped line as the background for painting with content. "Fourth of July" for instance features a red skyrocket bursting in air, not only does it commemorate the holiday but it also is an embodiment of the exuberant act of making such a painting.  Schaffer will often put figures in his paintings, as in "Harlequin Man".  The Clown, outlined in black, is a reminder that making a painting, especially one through the still-novel method of dripping, is a public performance that, like the clown, is awkward at times but most often graceful.  Political commentary is part of Schaffer's repertoire. "River of Blood" is a commentary in purely abstract terms about the state of affairs in the Mideast.  A red line bisects the composition in a rough diagonal.  The areas on either side of this divide are painted in different, dynamic configurations underscoring the tempestuousness of the region. But Schaffer might be at his best when he disciplines the drip as in the simple but rich six paneled "Rainbow Symphony", in which the colors of the rainbow simply course in separate bands across the composition.  This is perhaps Schaffer's most sublime and timeless painting.  He always possesses an ability to make his drips delicate like filigree and yet vitally electric.  These formal strengths are a foil to the strong statements he wants to make.  Schaffer seduces us into paying attention.

William Zimmer, New York City, May 2003
William Zimmer is a contributing art critic for The New York Times

You can email me at jackthedripper@msn.com or see more of my Art and some of my works on paper at jackschaffer.com.