Jonathan Lasker was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1948. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, as well as California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. Jonathan Lasker’s works explore and dissect the language of abstract picture making. The surfaces of his works often combine thick lines and thin. He covers light, colorful squiggles and repetitive patterns with dense black grids, or creates “absences” by erasing or obliterating earlier lines. At first glance, Lasker’s compositions can seem haphazard and doodle-like, but closer inspection reveals a carefully planned balance and self-control. He prepares studies of several variations before embarking on his final composition, and then, always conscious of the character of the lines in his images, makes his scribbles seem almost mechanically produced. This resulting contradiction is one of the most important aspects of Lasker’s work; it is simultaneously spontaneous and deliberate, rough and elegant, gestural and geometric.
His work can be found in many collections, including Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York Public Library, Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.), and Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), among others. Lasker lives and works in New York City.
