In a world that seems to be with its foot on an unprecedentedly loose accelerator, Tajh Rust's paintings are slowing us down. One step into Matthew Brown's gallery in LA for Somewhere in Between, you get the sense of time being frozen and contemplation still on the aritst's mind. I can't lie: this is the pace I was searching for.
Rust's portraits feel timeless and the figures on the cusp of something "else," like youthful greatness or looking at a future of their own. They have power and confidence even if they look off to the side or backs are turned. There is care and comfort. As the gallery notes, "This spirit of abundance and generosity transforms the works into sites of potential, thresholds to be breached. Building upon Rust’s prior interest in the intersections between disparate geographies, identities, and meanings, Somewhere in Between asserts that the interstices can be just as generative as the intersections." Mostly, it contains the power of patience and expectations, slowing down the moment so we can take it all in without a rush to make everything happen at once. —Evan Pricco
