Photo by Wanda Jackson. Artist J. Jordan Bruns, pictured with one of his works, said, “I think I need the excitement of not knowing what will come out of the medium to enjoy the act of creating.”

Published on: Wednesday, March 16, 2011

By Wanda Jackson

Be prepared to open yourself up to a way of painting where everything is allowed and nothing is mandatory when you view “Entropics,” a two-man show of abstract works at the Greenbelt Community Center’s Art Gallery through April 1.

Artists Jon Marshalik and Jordan Bruns hide nothing — their knowledge and experience with perspective, three-dimensionality, color theory and expression are perfectly evident as they cover and uncover, delineate and sweep over the shapes on their canvas and paper. Their works are complex drawings and paintings in which space, architecture and reason seem to collapse. What emerges are new civilizations, languages and sometimes strange new harmonies.

Through such contemporary art exhibits, you have the opportunity to “see the world in new ways,” says Rebekah Sutfin, Greenbelt Community Center Coordinator, Department of Recreation.

“The art gallery provides a valuable, shared space for discovery and reflections in the course of our daily lives,” she said.

Photo by Wanda Jackson. “Bouquet” is a mixed media paint on panel by Bruns.

Jon Marshalik, a native of Glen Burnie, currently lives and works in Baltimore. Last year, he graduated summa cum laude from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore with a Bachelor of  Fine Arts in Painting. His childhood hobbies of “drawing on graph paper and playing with LEGO bricks” sparked his ideas about form and what he calls “an ever-twisting thread of process.”

At first glance, Marshalik’s works appear overwhelming, chaotic and experimental — charcoal, tape and acrylic seem to explode across 60-by-60-inch paper. Only when the viewer is at the right distance does his work illustrate that abstract painting is fundamentally no different from figurative or realistic painting. Whatever you paint, you are, after all continually involved in making choices: Should my creation be based on external or internal information? What is my starting point? What color shall I use? How do I add texture? Shall I use lines or contours? How do I create depth?

Marshalik responds with his own language — to create instead of copy, to do something mad, dare to be provocative.

Artist J. Jordan Bruns is a people person and it is readily apparent that he wants to engage viewers with his work. Looking at his works brings to mind the axiom: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” But, in fact, elements in his work show just the opposite — destruction or trauma is an inevitable part of life, and that as a rule, if you are stronger after hardship, it is probably “despite, not because of the hardship.”

Photo by Wanda Jackson. Artist Jon Marshalik’s childhood hobbies of “drawing on graph paper and playing with LEGO bricks,” sparked his ideas about form and what he calls “an ever-twisting thread of process.”

“For me, there is no greater reward than to create something out of nothing — making beautiful and complex paintings or drawings from splattered hardware store paint or smudged graphite powder on paper,” Bruns said. “My work focuses on the cycle of destruction that occurs in humanity.”

In his work titled “Bouquet,” a single flower grows in the midst of destruction, symbolizing the transformative nature of life.

“Give me chaos on a canvas, and I’ll pretend I’m taking a Rorschach test (inkblot test) and painting in all the blanks, enabling the viewer to see what I see,” Bruns said. “When I start a drawing, the paper looks like I attacked it with my eyes closed. As time goes on and I’ve had days to push and pull the chaos, the smears turn into impossible, antigravity formations, places to escape to. I think that I need the excitement of not knowing what will come out of the medium to enjoy the act of creating.”

Apart from his current body of abstract works, Bruns is an accomplished landscape artist who once spent eight months living out of his car and traversing across North America. He earned his bachelor’s degree in painting and illustration at MICA in 2004 and Master of Fine Arts in painting at Indiana University in 2007. Bruns’ work has been exhibited across the United States, and currently, he is a resident artist in the Chautauqua Tower in Maryland’s Glen Echo Park where he teaches at the Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery.

The Greenbelt Community Center is located at 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt. For information, call 301-397-2208 or visit greenbeltmd.gov/arts. Greenbelt arts programs are sponsored in part by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the Maryland State Arts Council.