BIO
Jason Karolak (b. 1974, Rochester, MI) earned a BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Recent solo exhibitions include Grölle Galerie, Dusseldorf, Germany; Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY; David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX; and The Boulder Museum of Art, Boulder, CO. Karolak has participated in numerous group exhibitions at venues such as Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL; The Landing Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest, Germany. His work has been reviewed in Hyperallergic, Art in America, ARTnews, and The New York Times. Karolak received a Mellon Grant for research on color, and was awarded residencies from the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation and the Saltonstall Arts Colony. Karolak is an Associate Professor at Drew University in Madison, NJ. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Jason Karolak makes abstract, geometric paintings as a way to process information and concrete experiences in the world. This begins with gathering and collecting, as he pulls from his environment and the vernacular of the objects and design that he encounters. His research extends to interests in utopian architecture and communal societies, musical structures, screen technologies, and color phenomena. This material is digested through an iterative drawing practice where forms are reworked and clarified in multiple stages, becoming usable components or anchors within the paintings. Color is organized into floating, illuminated structures, suggesting a kind of imagined or speculative architecture, set within a projected space. Stimulating, charged color is counter-balanced with a sense of quiet and air, as the paintings seek to create spaces for contemplation, restoration, and mystery.
CV
EDUCATION
MFA, Painting and Drawing, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2006
BFA, Painting, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, 1997
SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024 Synchronicity, Galerie Grölle, Düsseldorf, Germany
2022 Porous, Morgan Lehman, New York, NY
2021 Fictionless, David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX
2018 Argot, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal, Germany
2017 Night Vision, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO
2017 Slow Talkers, Devening Projects, Chicago, IL
2017 Prospects, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2017 Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
2015 Linemaker, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ
2015 Polyrhythm, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2015 Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
2014 Harper College, Chicago, IL (catalogue)
2014 Jason Karolak and Andy Vogt, C2C Project Space, San Francisco, CA
2014 Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
2014 Convergence: Jason Karolak and Antoine Lefebvre, Flecker Gallery, Selden, NY (catalogue)
2013 McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2012 Goodyear Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
2012 Recent Works: Jason Karolak and Leah Patgorski, Gahlberg Gallery, Glen Ellyn, IL (catalogue)
2011 Dolphin, Kansas City, MO
2008 Rivers of the Same Mountain, Massimo Audiello, New York, NY
2007 New Paintings and Drawings, Rowland Contemporary, Chicago, IL (catalogue)
2007 New Paintings, Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, IL
2007 Project Room, Rowland Contemporary, Chicago, IL
2006 Dusty Groove, Chicago, IL (curated by John Corbett)
2004 Marygrove College, Detroit, MI
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 The Pull, curated by Eric Hibit, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2024 Ink MIami Art Fair, Manneken Press booth, Miami Beach, FL
2024 Tack, Galerie Grölle, Wuppertal, Germany
2024 Intervals, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
2024 Over-Compression, curated by Eunice Chen, Level Gallery, Queens, NY
2023 Looking Back, Grölle Gallery, Wuppertal, Germany
2023 Century / Idee Bauhaus, Dubniczay Palace / House of the Arts, Veszprém, Hungary; Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest, Germany
2023 Library, curated by Glenn Goldberg, Tappeto Volante Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2023 Inaugural Exhibition, Grölle Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
2022 Thaw, The Landing, Los Angeles, CA
2022 NY Connection, Galerie Floss & Schultz, Cologne, Germany
2022 XX: Twenty Years, Morgan Lehman, New York, NY
2021 Multilayer, curated Juliane Rogge and Ivo Ringe, Schloss Plüschow Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus, Upahl, Germany
2020 Multilayer, curated Juliane Rogge and Ivo Ringe, Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest, Germany
2020 High Stakes, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
2019 Die Sprache der Formen: Jessica Buhlmann, Jason Karolak, Volker Saul, Galerie Oqbo, Berlin, Germany
2019 Century / Idee Bauhaus, Dr. Julius, Berlin, Germany
2019 No Coincidence, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal, Germany
2019 Paperfile, Galerie Oqbo, Berlin, Germany
2018 Hazy and Pure / Painting, curated by Michael Schneider, Raum für Gäste, Aachen, Germany
2008 Scaffold, curated by Matt Kleberg, The Garage, Charlottesville, VA
2017 Backboard, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal, Germany
2017 Soft Geometries, curated by Andrea Myers, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus, OH
2016 Drawings, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2016 Dynamic, Steckline Gallery, Newman University, Wichita, KS
2016 Four Colleges, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
2016 Construction Site, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2016 Line Up, Ess Ef Eff, Brooklyn, NY
2016 (Un)conditional Color, curated by Mark Wethli, The Curator Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue)
2016 Ficton (With Only Daylight Between Us), Corridor Projects, Dayton, OH
2015 Full Tilt, curated by John Yau, Novella Gallery, New York, NY
2015 Painting Problems, Cuevas Tilleard Projects, New York, NY
2015 Microscopes and Binoculars, Hoffman Lachance, St. Louis, MO (catalogue)
2015 Breathing Room, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (catalogue)
2015 Space Available, 1329 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY
2015 DucksLA, Minotaur Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Making Space, curated by Susanne Doremus, Zolla Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2014 Group Exhibition, Galerie Gris, Hudson, NY
2014 Color as Structure, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2014 Made at Saltonstall: Art from the Residency, CAP Artspace, Ithaca, NY
2013 Meta Vista, 16 Wilson, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Reticulate, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2013 Future Folk, Brooklyn Fireproof, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Drawings, Trailer Park Proyects, San Juan, PR
2013 Angular Seduction, TSA, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Recent Works: Jason Karolak and Leah Patgorski, Gahlberg Gallery, Glen Ellyn, IL (catalogue)
2011 Group Exhibition, Dolphin, Kansas City, MO
2009 Big Youth, Corbett vs Dempsey Gallery, Chicago IL (catalogue)
2009 Summer Exhibition, Massimo Audiello, New York, NY
2009 Variations on a Theme, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL
2009 Group Exhibition, Lemberg Gallery, Ferndale, MI
2008 Paper Love, Devening Projects, Chicago, IL
2007 Group Exhibition, curated by Mary Beyer, Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007 Drawn In, Estudiotres Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 Bentnames, Fifty 50 Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 Moreover, curated by Michelle Grabner, Beverly Arts Center, Chicago, IL
2006 Slowness, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL (catalogue)
2006 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Gallery 2, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2005 Love 8, Gallery X, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2005 Edit, 1926 Exhibition Space, Roger Brown House, Chicago, IL
AWARDS AND HONORS
Artist in Residence, Thread / Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Sinthian, Senegal, 2024
Artist in Residence, Manneken Press, Bloomington, IL, 2024
Mellon Grant for research on color, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2017
Artist in Residence, Saltonstall Arts Colony, Ithaca, NY, 2014
Artist in Residence, Oehme Graphics, Steamboat Springs, CO, 2013
Artist in Residence, Soaring Gardens Artist Retreat, Laceyville, PA, 2013
Graduate Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2006
PUBLICATIONS
Two aquatint editions, Produced by Manneken Press, November 2024 (upcoming)
Exhibition Catalogue for Multilayer, Schloss Plüschow Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus, Upahl, Germany. Essay by Thomas Michelli, “Mirroring Infinity,” August 2021
Artist book, Eraser, produced by Brian Edmonds. Interviews with Jeffrey Cortland Jones and Will Sears, 2021
Video Catalogue, Don’t Look at Me Like That: Seventeen Artists in Time, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal, Germany, May 2020
Exhibition Catalogue for (Un)conditional Color, The Curator Gallery, New York, NY. Essay by Mark Wethli, "(Un)conditional Color," February 2016
Exhibition Catalogue for Breathing Room, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. May 2015
Exhibition Catalogue for Microscopes and Binoculars, Hoffman LaChance Gallery, St. Louis, MO. Essay by Michael Wille, "Curator's Essay," March 2015
Exhibition Catalogue for Convergence: Jason Karolak and Antoine Lefebvre, Maurice Flecker Gallery, Selden, NY. Essay by Thomas Michelli, "Convergences: Jason Karolak and Antoine LeFebvre," March 2014
Exhibition Catalogue for Jason Karolak, Harper College, Palatine, IL. Essay by Sofia Leiby, "Jason Karolak: Paintings," February 2014
Boxed suite of 12 solar plate etchings, Alembic. Produced by Oehme Graphics. Prints by Jason Karolak with selected text of Ralph Waldo Emerson, edition of 15, 2013
Exhibition Catalogue for Jason Karolak and Leah Patgorski: Recent Works, Gahlberg Gallery, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL. Essay by Jason Foumberg, “The Phenomenological Unconscious,” May 2012
Exhibition Catalogue for Big Youth: New Painters from Chicago, Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery, Chicago, IL, July 2009
Exhibition Catalogue for New Painting and Drawings, Rowland Contemporary, Chicago, IL. Essay by Michelle Grabner, “Mother Tongue,” November 2007
Exhibition Catalogue for Slowness, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL. Essay by Terry Myers, "Time Is On Our Side," June 2006
Letterpress Broadside, Poetry Center of Chicago, Poem by Thomas Sayers Ellis,"Ways to be Black in a Poem," Drawing by Jason Karolak, edition of 50, 2006
PRESS
Donna Tennant. “Jason Karolak, Fictionless,” Visual Art Source, June, 2021
Marta Kruger. “Interview: Jason Karolak,” The Seesaw, November 10, 2020
Jan Bykowski, “Erweiterte Konzentration: Gruppenausstellung im Raum Schrott Soest,” Kunst: Art #75, September 2020
Monika Werner Staude. "Kunst mit kalkuliertem Bruch," Westdeutsche Zeitung, September 3, 2019
Monika Werner Staude. "Vom Überleben im Lauten New York," Westdeutsche Zeitung, May 9, 2018
Peter Tonguette. "Covering All the Angles," The Columbus Dispatch, October 15, 2017
James Kalm. "Abstract Quartet: Motherwell, Karolak, Belag, Bellinger," James Kalm Report video survey, October 9, 2017
James Panero. “The Critics Notebook,” The New Criterion, September 26, 2017
Thomas Micchelli. "The High Drama of Hot Color in a Field of Black," Hyperallergic, September 15, 2017
Tom Pekovitch. "Jason Karolak: Slow Talkers at Devening Projects," Delicious Line, April 24, 2017
Kelly Reaves. "Electric, Eclectic Neural Nets," New City, April 21, 2017
Michael Paglia. "Review: At Robischon, Eight Solos Add Up to a Major Look at Contemporary Abstraction," Westword, January 25, 2017
Thomas Micchelli. "Painting from the Ground Up," Hyperallergic, July 9, 2016
Michael Paglia. "Ink Masters at Space Gallery," Westword, March 23, 2016
Thomas Micchelli. "The Pursuit of Art, 2015," Hyperallergic, December 26, 2015
Michael Paglia. "Getting the Most out of Minimalism at the Robischon and Rule Galleries," Westword, June 2, 2015
Jennifer Samet. "Beer with a Painter: Jason Karolak," Hyperallergic, May 3, 2015
Dar Dowling. "Jason Karolak at McKenzie Fine Art," Modernnyc, February 27, 2015
Thomas Micchelli. "Dark Matter: Jason Karolak's Wayward Abstractions," Hyperallergic, February 21, 2015
Ann Landi. "Color as Structure," ARTnews, October 2014
Arthur Whitman. "Urban Color Spectrum: Brooklyn Abstractionist Shines in CAP's Saltonstall Exhibit," Ithaca Times, July 16, 2014
Paul D'Agostino. "4 Exhibits You Need to See," The L Magazine, July 3, 2014
Michael Paglia. "Conceptual Abstraction runs through shows at Robischon and Vertigo," Westword, February 20, 2014
James Panero. "Gallery Chronicle," The New Criterion, November 2013
David Linneweh. “Interview: Jason Karolak,” Studio Break, August 13, 2013
Thomas Micchelli. "Spinning a Web: When Art Addresses the Infinite," Hyperallergic, July 13, 2013
Carl Gunhouse. "Jason Karolak at McKenzie Fine Art," Searching for the Light, March 26, 2013
Sharon Butler. “Painting of the Day: Jason Karolak,” Two Coats of Paint, February 25, 2013
Xiomara Martinez-White. “Jason Karolak at McKenzie,” Artery, February 13, 2013
Caleb DeJong. “Jason Karolak at McKenzie Fine Art,” Thoughts That Cure Radically, February 10, 2013
Valerie Brennan. “Interview: Jason Karolak,” Studio Critical, July 16, 2011
Dana Self. “’Discourse Matters’ at the Dolphin Gallery is Magnetic, Immersive,” Kansas City Star, July13, 2011
Crystal Wiebe. “Discourse Matters,” The Pitch, July 2011
Ruth Lopez. “To Stay or not to Stay: The Creative Dilemma,” The Art Newspaper, May 2009
Ann Wiens. “5 Young Artists,” Chicago Magazine, August 2009
Robin Farrell Roulo. “New Kids on the Block,” Artslant, August 2, 2009
Laura Pearson. “Big Youth at Corbett vs. Dempsey,” Time Out Chicago, July 30, 2009
Chris Miller. “Big Youth at Corbett vs. Dempsey,” New City, July 27, 2009
Carley Demchuk. “Big Youth: New Painters from Chicago,” Art Talk Chicago, July 15, 2009
Stephen Mueller. “Jason Karolak at Massimo Audiello,” Art in America, January 2009
Roberta Smith. “Chelsea: Art Chockablock with Encyclopedic Range,” New York Times, November 14, 2008
Paddy Johnson. "Jason Karolak at Massimo Audiello," Art F City, October 20, 2008
Lauren Weinberg. “Paper Love,” Time Out Chicago, July 17, 2008
Jason Foumberg. “The Manifold World,” New City, December 13, 2007
Karissa Lang. “Tip of the Week: Jason Karolak,” New City, November 22, 2007
Alan Artner. “Exhibition Review: Jason Karolak,” Chicago Tribune, April 6, 2007
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
Curator of the solo exhibition Deborah Dancy, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2025
Curator of the solo exhibition Gabriela Salazar: Whether Break or Shape, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2024
Curator of the solo exhibition Zachary Fabri: Eupepsia, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2023
Curator of the group exhibition Primary, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2018
Co-Curator (with James Kao) of the group exhibition Slowness, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2006
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Associate Teaching Professor, Art, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2015-Present
Lecturer, Art, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2011-15
Instructor, Painting, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI, 2010
Instructor, Painting and Drawing, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2008-09
Instructor, Foundations, Harrington College of Design, Chicago, IL, 2007-09
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Studio Arts, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, 2008
PRESENTATIONS
Conversation with artist Gabriela Salazar, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2024
Conversation with artist Zachary Fabri, Mead Hall, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2023
Visiting Artist Lecture, Aurora University, Aurora, IL, 2020
Artist Lecture, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO, 2017
Artist Lecture, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY, 2017
Visiting Artist, Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2016
Artist Lecture, The Curator Gallery, New York, NY, 2016
Artist Lecture, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 2015
Visiting Artist, Harper College, Chicago, IL, 2014
Visiting Artist, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL, 2014
Artist Lecture, McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY, 2013
Visiting Artist, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 2012
Visiting Artist Lecture, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, 2011
Visiting Artist, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE, 2011
Visiting Artist Lecture, Oxbow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI, 2010
Visiting Artist Lecture, Depaul University, Chicago, IL, 2009
Visiting Critic, Fall Critiques, Dominican University, Chicago, IL, 2008
Visiting Critic, Spring Critiques, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, 2007
Visiting Artist, Wells College, Aurora, NY, 2007