Jay Tracy: Fugitive Form: Thermogenic Drawings & Mixed Media Paintings, May 9 – June 7, 2008

Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art announces Jay Tracy’s, Fugitive Form: Thermogenic Drawings & Mixed Media Paintings running May 9 – June 7, 2008, with the opening reception Friday, May 9 from 5 to 7pm. Chemical reactions; heat and light on paper; the visible marks the invisible; the bound and the unbound. Jay Tracy has been exploring the physical properties of varies materials and how he can harness their chemical reactions for personal mark making on paper or canvas for decades. This new exhibition features Tracy’s long running thermogenic drawing series of ‘heat’ markings on vintage fax paper. Mysterious and intricate, these compositions explore repetition of line and process with unique results. The thermogenic investigations lead Tracy to experiment with the chemical reactions of metal salts, pigments and synthetic microbicides, which resulted in his new mixed media paintings. Tracy asks, “How might the transformed realities of specific chemical admixtures lend their (invisible) shape to the shifting (visible) paradigms of art and the subjective interest or disinterest of the observer?” Visually minimal in nature, these new paintings are the answer to his inquiries.  Jay Tracy is a long-time Santa Fe resident who recently relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. He has an extensive national exhibition record and this is his first major exhibition at Chiaroscuro.