New Work

Harewood House is delighted to present this new exhibition by Jason Brooks, an exciting collaboration with a leading British artist. This year we are looking at portraiture and are showing contemporary work alongside the more traditional examples of portrait painting in the House. Harewood, like most of the great English country houses, contains many fine protraits of the men and women who have played important roles in its history, painted by some of the greatest portrait painters of their time: Reynolds, Gainsborough and Hoppner among others.

Jason brooks might appear to be working in that tradition. Actually his work presents an image that is in complete contrast ot the traditional painted portrait. Jason is a photographer as well as a highly skilled painter. He makes monochrome paintings of photographs of people. He makes no attempt to flatter, give a context to or characterise his subject by dramatic lighting. His ore recent work is often on a very large scale. In a cinematic ‘widescreen’ format with the faces cropped within the frame. There is a very compelling juxtaposition between the historic portraits in the setting of the furnished rooms and Jason’s contemporary works in the uncluttered interior of the Terrace Gallery. Both say something about their time and place in history and the contrast between them invites a conscious comparison highlighting the particularity of each.

Given Jason’s concern with the photographic and filmic image it is very appropriate that he has chosen to make a painting of film maker David Lascelles. As a producer David is used to being behind the camera rather than in front of it which means that he and Jason normally occupy not dissimilar positions in regard to the constructing of images. That David becomes the subject of the image invites a consideration of these roles and the historic relationship between artist and subject or patron.