PRESS
Blue, period: Carrie Jadus at PORTSPACE
- Cathy Salustri for Creative Loafing
PORTSPACE GALLERY: CARRIE JADUS PAINTINGS
- Lennie Bennett for Tampa Bay Times
'Out of the Blue'
Born out of Soft Water Studios’ weekly live-drawing sessions, The Blue Nudes are a practice of mastery. The continuing series of small-scale paintings are meant to highlight the human form. The Blue Nudes represent a concentration of spontaneity but one with an underlying theme: blue. Like the fleeting aspects of life, each study is lush and vivid with deep brush strokes of sensual yellow, orange and blue hues. The uniquely prepped canvas of teal as its background offers up a staggering contrast to the fleshy warm tones of the human body. The blue is artist-specific, and though it initially began as a way to practically dispose of left over paint, the series is now a distinct approach to painting.
Given the location of the artist, the complimentary relation of blue to orange, and the high contrast of lighting, each work is reminiscent of the blushing Saint Petersburg skies, and the viridescent waters of the Gulf. The artist’s brush strokes prompt a sense of elegance and suggest the transitory nature of the human body. Notice the men and women depicted. Their agency is one of delicate suppleness, a true gentleness, regardless of age. The Blue Nudes is not just a study, but an investigation and compilation of body, vitality, and gesture.