Jan Tarasin (1926 - 2009), Jacob's Staircase III, 1992

oil, canvas; 100 x 130 cm;
Signed and dated l. d.: "Jan Tarasin 92";
signed, dated and author-described on the reverse: JAN TARASIN 1992 / "STAIRS OF JAMES III"

Provenance:
private collection, Warsaw

Jan Tarasin's painting oscillated around the issue of object - sign. The artist transferred to his canvases shapes close to abstraction, devoid of realistic accuracy, but referring to real objects. Compositions consisting of simplified, diverse signs (geometric figures, letters) he put together in specific arrangements, usually horizontal lines, which built up the conventional space of the painting. Tarasin was fascinated by the concept of movement, changeability, ambivalence of forces. Both shapes and colors played an important role. The juiciness of the hue or the economy of the color range naturally differentiated interpretative approaches.
The offered work, thanks to the author's title, suggests interpretive associations originating in the Old Testament. Jacob, also known as Israel, was one of the most important biblical patriarchs, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel originated. The artistic metaphor of the staircase, which Tarasin used in his work, refers to the ladder that Jacob dreamed while wandering to Charan. It became a symbol connecting heaven and earth, but also a kind of "tool" facilitating communication between God and man. The fact that this theme was of particular interest to the artist is evidenced by the fact that he returned to it in several of Tarasin's works. The treatment of this motif, using the artist's characteristic painting code, gives the classic, literary formula a modernized, revealing form.