James Juthstrom, Rediscovered: Metaphysical Paintings from the Loft

WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC presented the work of James Juthstrom (1925-2007), an extraordinary artist who lived and worked in New York City throughout his life. His artwork was recently re-discovered, uncovering five decades of painting, drawing, etching, and sculpting.

This reclusive artist moved in the circle of New York School artists and abstract expressionists. He was passionate about expressionism; from his early concentration on color relation, similar to Milton Avery, to his later work, reminiscent of Mark Tobey. In the 1960s Juthstrom's lines and strokes were loose, until a time when he began to paint intricate patterns of small circles or hatch marks on canvas and paper. On large canvases, measuring from eight feet across, to the largest at twenty seven feet across, the artist spent countless hours painting an infinite maze of colored circles with hidden formations that become visible under light. Juthstrom's paintings reflect his fascination with the cosmos, mathematical formulas and biology, interspersed with personal anguish in his passion for art. The artist removed himself from the commercialization of his artwork, even though he lived impoverished, his truth was in the creation of art. In addition to large scale canvas paintings, Juthstrom worked extensively on paper.

The paintings and drawings on paper embody Juthstrom's progression throughout several decades, and emphasize his skill with shape and structure. Works on paper from the 1960s and 70s are masterful works in minute detail, using a variety of techniques, suggestive of outsider artists.