by Louis Jacobson for Washington City Paper
April 15, 2025
Not only is Washington blessed with spring weather right now, but also a pair of galleries displaying the work by some of the city’s most notable painters: Wayson R. Jones and the late Leon Berkowitz at HEMPHILL Artworks, and Trevor Young at Addison/Ripley.
Jones’ works are inventive both in their colors and their method. For the series of works on display at HEMPHILL, Jones lays down pumice gel, mostly of the “extra coarse” variety, then uses repurposed tools to shape the drying gel into patterns that tiptoe between organic and orderly. After letting those sit for a few weeks, he uses Flashe, a vinyl-based paint, to turn his surfaces into bold, candy-colored works that wrap around the frame and up into three dimensions. The result is often the texture of volcanic rock.