Compiling visible brushstrokes in historic, somber tones of beige
Compiling visible brushstrokes in historic, somber tones of beige, brown, hunter green with the occasional small touch of sporting red and blue, Krashes' paintings move individually as well as filmically in relationship to one another. A different rhythm is created in each, sometimes close to explosion, sometimes floating, rocking or dancing. The subject, Krashes' own physical therapy sessions, is realized by various processes of removal from the initial viewing of the session. Krashes interjects cameras, mirrors, and color copiers, creating his paintings from both mechanical and painted reproductions. A camera might shoot his image reflected in a mirror; that photograph is color copied and from that a painting is created. These acts of removal from the initial subject produce a fractured figure made up of impasto strokes. His paintings convey distress and tension, but after consideration of their movement, evolve into self-portraits of physical and emotional liberation.
Known both for oil paintings and gouaches, Krashes generally creates a relationship between the character of the piece he is working on and the process he uses to achieve it. In some recent works he has set aside the explicit physical therapy subject and turned to still life. And keeping the panoramic, serialized format established in the still lives, he has re?introduced autobiographical imagery with a reconstruction of a few moments at a lake near his parent's home.
