Jax Foster

JAX FOSTER (they/them) started painting in 2020 while working at Broadwing Tattoo and Body Piercing. “I saw what [tattoo artist] Jaimi Mullholand was making and I really liked it. I hadn’t seen many oil paintings up close and was like, ‘hey, how do I do that?’ And it started a lot of big conversations.”

They chose to use oils because, “you get a richness that you can’t achieve with other mediums. There’s a depth there.” Even oil painting’s notoriously slow drying time is a benefit: “I can get my palette down. Go do a couple other things. Clean for an hour. Come back. Paint for two hours and then go do more. I like that the process is slower.”

Jax’s style flows in a looseness associated with Impressionists, but their techniques are from Baroque old masters, “That’s what I feel the most connected to. They were achieving things with colors that didn’t exist yet and forms that they spent their entire days or week studying. That’s what I feel culturally most connected to.” Old master techniques use an underpainting, called a grisaille painting, that is grayscale. Layers of color are mixed and applied in thin glazes. Not only does the artist have to work with color theory, “an endless lesson,” quipped Jax, but also the oil’s chemistry and the maxim, “fat over lean.” Pigments that are suspended in oil (fat) need to be applied over pigments that have been mixed with lean mediums like mineral spirits to avoid cracking from uneven drying times. “There’s a lot of chemistry for oils,” said Jax, “Like how to structure things and what works and what doesn’t.”

In six short years, Jax developed their technique and skill, although their growth hasn’t stopped. “I developed my skill and understanding in about year four and now I’m developing work that matters more to me.”

An important part of their work includes painting food. Baroque still lifes of decadent citrus and melons might have shown off patron’s wealth, but Jax’s food provides a contemporary twist that shows an understanding of social media and emotional connections. Ramen bowls with golden noodle squiggles, twisting tentacles, and deep green seaweed squares provide snapshots into moments not unlike the ripe fruit spilling over a finely laid table. Fruit rots and the noodles get mushy—but not in Jax’s work.

Jax Foster takes commissions. “I want people to send me their first date pictures. Or their grandparent’s recipes. Or their fast food orders. [...] There’s something really human in both food and people. They’re both really physical things that you can connect with.” Dino nuggets march in ketchup, connecting memory and emotion to something you can hold again in your hands—as a canvas. Besides food and human portraiture, they’ve done movie scenes, including a current commission for a scene from Some Like It Hot, taking something fleeting and capturing the moment.

You can follow Jax on social media under Thistle and Berry, where they post their ongoing work.