Etkin’s Primal Series searches the soul
By Fredric Koeppel

We went to the spacious Jay Etkin Gallery on South Main, where Etkin also has his studio, to see work from his latest series of paintings, “Primal.” Etkin has worked in series of abstract paintings since the mid-1990s, first in a four- or five-year epic called “Radio Talk” that encompassed 300 8-by-11, oil-on-paper works, inspired by the radio the artist played in his studio at his old Cooper St. Gallery. He has one of those works left. Rumors, the next series, grew to about 50 notecard-size paintings, each with a phrase cut from a newspaper or magazine. Only one of those remains, too.
    The events of Sept. 11 inspired 110 Stories, and this time Etkin turned to a larger format, 50 by 60 inches, that has slowed his rate. The artist has reached 36 or 37; "this will take years," he said.
    Primal grew from Etkin's recent immersion in mythology and Jungian psychology, material he hadn't read since he was in his 20s. "Now I interpret this as a 54-year-old man," he said, "not as a 24-year-old back in Brooklyn. The paintings are more soul-searching than anything I've done."
    The 12 works in Primal measure 18-by-18 inches. Oil and alkyd (a synthetic resin) on panel, they glow, under the gallery lights, in jewel-like tones that seem to resonate from deep within. Etkin professes "an undying devotion to paint," and the way that he works, alternating from spare to lavish, demonstrates that constancy. Dedicated to abstraction, Etkin depends on intuition to guide his hand and brush, while the techniques of abstraction - layering, scraping, using thin washes, juxtaposing textures - testifies to what he calls "faith in the art of painting."
    The way these small paintings deal with veils and mysteries suggests something shamanistic about their creation and implications. Their size and inwardness are intimate, but they possess the power of revelation.
    Each one is framed by broad black strokes that the artist adds after the piece is finished; these surrounding devices conceal the edges of the painting, demanding some harrowing decisions by the artist.
    "The dense black frame empowers part of the painting," Etkin said, "but there's a sense of sacrifice, too."
    Looking at the Primal series, we felt the energy and the loss simultaneously.