Feature Artist: Jack Winthrop’s ‘The Wounded Healer’
“6th and Wall” by Jack Winthrop
Jack Winthrop made his debut at the Gabba Gallery Los Angeles with ‘The Wounded Healer’ on October 9th 2021. The collection of large-scale paintings on canvas represents a personal journey that reflects the ‘other’ pandemic of today’s youth.
Coming back from living unhoused on Skid Row with a fentanyl addiction in 2019, to creating a body of work that connects with those dealing with isolation and disenfranchisement in 2021, this collection is at once deeply introspective, while aligning with wider themes that are ubiquitous in this unchartered cultural moment, through the acceleration of isolation in our illusory, digitally dependent lives.
Abstracted human forms, flowers, symbols, and text dance amidst kinetic webs of bold, graffiti-inspired lines and imagery. Connecting with his personal journey, Winthrop’s paintings capture the complexity of dependency in a world where the absence of true intimacy leaves a void, whilst the recognition that the pathways through healing are non-linear, is both inspiring and relatable.
Originally from Minneapolis, Winthrop recently moved to Los Angeles after living and working in New York City for a decade. A graduate from the school of Visual Arts in New York, Winthrop’s process continues to honor the inner-child, allowing each session to be free, new and inconsistent, often relying on spontaneity. Always starting from a place of tranquility for each new work, he follows the lines in front of him, with moments that feel like they are guided by the divine, to tell a story of healing.
Jack’s first series, ‘The Wounded Healer’, tells of his journey battling, and overcoming addiction. Running from himself and his own reflection, the many universes of the artist’s mind have coalesced to produce powerful symbols of both suffering and awakening. From getting high on Skid Row to building a body of art reflective of the depths of human experience. Winthrop speaks to an affliction that does not define us but can be a source of power and deep connectivity.
“I’m simply telling my story – who I am, and why I’m still here. It’s reflecting my own experience with addiction, ecstasy, recovery, our humanness, and most of all, hope. From the murkiness of Skid Row streets in the night, trap houses, junkies and convicts -I’m observing myself within these environments. I’m interested in the metamorphosis of rebirth and redemption as the past fades. Symbols of arrows eternally piercing a trapped heart, and ladders and doorways to escape – these are reoccurring themes that replicate themselves in my art, as it is my truth, and ultimately, my search for meaning. This is who I am, unadulterated and naked. My hope is that it connects with others, no matter what their experiences, I hope there is a shared revelation that the light is always there in the dark.” Jack Winthrop, Artist.
Show curated by Jason Ostro and Elena Jacobson. The show opened on Saturday, October 9th and remains open until October 30th. Individual pieces, and NFTs will be available via a virtual gallery.
A percentage of proceeds will go to a homelessness/rehabilitation charity.
Instagram: Jack Winthrop
Gallery Exhibition: Gabba Gallery
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