Jason Thielke and Gel Medium Transfers

I thought of gel medium transfers as more a painting than drawing technique, though I've used similar methods for transferring images in lithographic printmaking. I guess the old boundaries between mediums aren't really meaningful anymore - certainly not to artists - (and why not give curators and critics a bit of a challenge - then they don't have handy pigeonhole for your work! There's always the 'mixed media' catchall though.) I'm certainly can't pigeonhole the art of Jason Thielke. Most of the work on display in his small online gallery is digitally drawn, gel medium transfer on panel (timber or mdf, I assume) though there's an interesting drawing done in marker on a priority paid envelope. And a pair of sneakers.

His work has that contemporary design feel that combines graphical elements with mark making; often overlaying multiple images, some in a clean, crisp style and sometimes using spatters and random elements to break down the image a little. There's elements of industrial design, advertising, and some very nice typography. Thielke's art, as far as I can tell from my brief browse through his site, is essentially about people and urban life: for all the constructed, illustrative aspects of the work, the figure and a lyrical sense of line seem to dominate. (Sure, its a crisp, precise line like an engineer's blueprint, but that's okay...)

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