Michael Jefferson’s paintings are an exploration of paint as an artistic medium and as a mode of expression, drawing on art historical precedents. The work aims to exist in two modes simultaneously: abstraction and representation. While pure abstraction can take on an infinite range of forms, Jefferson has chosen familiar subjects that act as an apparatus upon which he drapse abstract mark-making, giving form and direction to the endless possibilities of paint. The work is largely intuitive, taking advantage of the great flexibility and adaptability of the medium. In this series, the verticality of the sides of the stump is abruptly severed, forming concentric rings that create a dichotomy of vertical/horizontal, natural/synthetic, representation/abstraction. Pattern and color then produces a type of kinetic energy within the paintings, and the visceral images are a salve to remote, digital forms of visual stimulation.

The series of stump paintings and drawings utilizes a cartoonish image that bears the weight of humankind’s mark on nature as well as a commentary on contemporary politics while acting as an icon that is both familiar and void of meaning. There are obvious associations to a felled tree and savaging of the environment, but the stumps often have an echo of figuration--torsos or limbs—and lives that are cut short by violence. Ultimately the works are about creative freedom that touches on the infinite, providing a gateway to understanding artistic exploration and human endeavor across all time and place.