In New Lands, Jason Saager invites viewers into supernatural landscapes where our understanding of space, time, and nature dissolves. Working within the vastness of the Southwest wilderness in Arizona and inspired by nature in ancient art—before landscape painting formalized in the Western tradition— Saager’s work challenges our conventional understanding of landscape painting. With his idiosyncratic fusion of different perspectives, the sense of our natural world is reshaped by unlikely relationships that evoke a sense of ‘earth magic’, presenting a realm where reality is reimagined to offer moments of transcendence, hope, and positive escape.
Saager’s unorthodox process begins with small drawing exercises that lead to large-scale, wet-on- wet oil monotypes—executed with his own body as the press—infusing his work with spontaneity and unpredictability. His experimental approach recalls 19th-century printmaking techniques, but also automatic drawing and decalcomania, which were popularized through surrealism in the early 20th century. His paintings explore time manipulation and impossible spaces, where ancient sources are transformed into altered environments that blur the boundaries of past, present, and future.
The exhibition reflects Saager’s belief in art’s ability to expand consciousness and invite contemplation of abstract ideas through visual serenity—expressed in his imagery of weightless gardens, floating trees, and tranquil skies. New Lands offers a complex yet inviting meditation on the transformative potential of landscapes, exploring themes that echo the utopian impulses of the 20th century while engaging with contemporary ideas that question space and time as foundational elements of reality.
