“your life is your life.
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.[1]”
Charles Bukowski
Royal Jarmon’s escape from submission is probably related to art and his constant drive to draw. As a kid, he was always coloring, drawing, or painting, and this was just a natural way to deal with everything that surrounded him. Growing up in a particularly harsh place, having a passion to keep him safe and anchored made a real difference. Although he didn’t even know he could dedicate his life to art, or what being an artist meant, he hopefully found out as a young adult, thanks to the praise he received from close people and the influence of other artists.
Jarmon’s imagery springs from different places, from normal everyday objects like cans, lighters, sportsmen or cars, to influences from his childhood or travels. He likes to concentrate for a specific period of time on each theme he paints, focusing on color, perspective, or distortion. He also enjoys creating things no one has ever seen and the challenge of new findings. William S. Burroughs put it like this: “You make something exist by seeing it. Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it ‘creative observation’”[2].
Being self-taught, Jarmon developed an artistic language that is highly recognizable, with thick brush strokes and a mostly flat perspective. He also connects with the notion that Picasso defended of painting like children do. “Secret Gardens” explores the subject of flowers, which is in fact inspired on a drawing Jarmon made when he was six years old. Although the essence is very similar, he rediscovered and explored this pattern with his current background. The texture of the paintings is the same as that of his sportsmen series, but one of the main challenges he faced was to add some movement and action to the static nature of flowers. “Flowers in Vases on Table” perfectly solves this dilemma with flowers that look like fireworks exploding.
Ultimately, Jarmon is interested in highlighting beauty in a sometimes (often?) hostile world and infusing some flamboyance to everyday objects. Come to think of it, that’s where art also plays a crucial role. Looking at these expanded and at times psychedelic flowers, we can contemplate the repetitive figures searching for the details that resonate with us, be it colors, strokes, or shapes, to find the raw beauty that hides in our daily lives.
Florence Rodenstein
[1] Bukowski, Charles, “The laughing heart” (1991). https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/424/lot/134683/the-laughing-heart-manuscript-poem-signed-by-Bukowski
[2] Burroughs, William S, “Painting and Guns” (1992). P.39. Hanuman Books.
