Josef Kote deftly blends abstract and representational elements in his signature style and technique. Rather than make direct observations about people, places or things, the artist approaches his compositions more as impressions, recollections or memories of things past, or for those who prefer looking forward, suggestions, visions or anticipations of what may yet be to come. Yes, his art is about being there, but being there in mind, spirit, and passion as well as in physicality. The magical ways in which recognizable figures, objects or scenes subtly emerge out from or diffuse into their surroundings, translate as experiential episodes, respites or reveries. It's easy to imagine immersion, getting lost in realms of somewhere special or with someone close, and being gifted with complete freedom to engage, reflect or muse as we wish. His paintings are like enticements that captivate and beckon you to partake. With full knowledge that we all see things in our own unique ways, Kote facilitates all outcomes by gifting us with the privilege to experience and with limitless opportunities for involvement.
Letting Go (c.2019) 48x60
Provenance: Private Collection, USA
Consider his paintings of boats at rest in serenity along tranquil shores. Do they signify a journey's beginning or end? The calmness of rippling reflections, the gently lapping waves, seems more interpretive of meditative states than as calls to activity or action. They're not large boats, often more than welcoming and accommodating for one, for you. No need get in though, or to take hold of any oars. Navigation is not necessary. All you have to do is sit back, take a few slow easy breaths, and begin to unwind. Your imagination is about to depart on your itinerary to anywhere. Enjoy the outing and arrive back refreshed no matter where you end up going or what you experienced while there. Happens every time.
Love and Light (c.2014) 48x48
Provenance: Private Collection, USA
Kote's portrait and figure paintings offer such alluring interludes as well. As with all of his art, they afford viewers the unselfconscious luxury to observe and contemplate every detail, posture, facial expression, gesture, emotion, and mood. The narrative is for you to determine; the blanks are for you to fill in. How you relate to one subject or another, or what you feel might be transpiring, is entirely up to you. The most fascinating part? You can actually get in touch with your own deep personal thoughts, feelings and responses while doing so.
Summer Memories (c.2019) 48X60
This artist's paintings are at once focused and indefinite, unified in their intrinsic peace and serenity. Even his dense center city urban environments are safe and easy to be in. No matter what the location, as you wander about the composition, you chance upon special places where you can stop, pause, relax, and steal moments to escape the commotion and be alone with yourself. Oases like these abound in Kote's work. No matter what the subject matter, visions materialize before your eyes and dreams become real. You have no idea what adventures await as you invariably find yourself drawn in for closer more intimate looks. And then there are the brushstrokes, intuitive fusions of color - bright, vibrant, and brimming with life. When you first make visual contact with a Kote painting from a distance, you see the whole, a unified definable synthesis of recognizable forms and abstract amalgams. But the real magic unfolds as you approach. The closer you get, the more you are able to appreciate the subtleties of the artist's palette, and in particular, the isolated individual paint strokes. Each reveals itself as a cascade of colors, effortlessly coalesced into a single gesture, a phenomenon remarkable to behold.
'' Walk In The Light'' (c.2019) 48x60
As your eye moves from stroke to stroke, you begin to see how seemingly discordant elements miraculously manage to coexist in harmony as they merge into exquisite ensemble wholes. This is all courtesy of the masterful ways in which Kote is able to intertwine these component parts, lacing them together like stitchery in finely woven tapestries. These gentle caresses of affection are like paintings within paintings within paintings, adventures in complexity that stand both alone and together as one. Above all, the light and color that permeate every painting, so lush and abundant within his work, are to him representations of happiness and joy. He capably engages them as means to evoke feelings, experiences, and auras of bliss and contentment, ever so subtly apparent to viewers. Painting for him is like dreaming for the rest of us, like being in exuberant places and creating from enchanting perspectives.
For Kote, light, and color are more like chance happenings or encounters that emanate from within, expressions of feelings, not what he sees, but rather expansive states of awareness. Indeed, the most central takeaway from the artist's art, and from his life as an artist, is that he paints from his heart, emotions, and soul. His jubilant spirit guides the way as he welcomes each and every one of us along for the odyssey.
