Jason Montinola
Sentinel 14
Jason Montinola
101.5x61cm
Oil on Canvas
2018
Artist Statement
Jason Montinola explores an indvidual’s task of projecting identity and levels of power through a series of sentinel paintings. The word sentinel has been further personified in lore and fiction as the ultimate watcher. Due to the word’s repeated fictionalization, its usage becomes a powerful tool to envision a figure safekeeping the most valuable of objects and civilizations. Oftentimes the item of protection is guarded so close and away from ordinary eyes, one would question the validity of its existence. Yet the existence of the sentinel as an unwavering force compels man to believe that something is being protected and carried across time.
Montinola transfers the role of the sentinel closer to the ordinary man as he identifies an individual’s capacity to become a sentinel to himself. He presents two separate sentinels, 10 and 14, held in a seemingly reverent state enveloped in darkness, directing the viewer’s focus on the figures alone without any distraction. Each sentinel is anonymous yet familiar, either morphed or fragmented but fully manifested up to the point of its inception. Their recognizable images either broken up or stitched together reveals man’s capacity to absorb influences and values he holds in the highest regard. Man takes these values upon himself and wears it as a mask of influence. He later on projects them together with his artifacts and his idols and uses it as a membrane that grants him the power to survive. Man’s competence rests on his capacity to safekeep his principles and beliefs and his ability to personify success. His embodiment changes the way he is perceived without ever so slightly changing his physique. For Montinola, man as a sentinel to himself does not mean he is superfluous and all-encompassing. In his paintings, a sentinel’s appearance is visually concise as his operation lies in his core and his capacity to protect it with his life. It is in his potential to wield it as he aims to ascend or seek comfort in his place. Each person in the world is a sentinel to themselves.
Sentinel 10
Jason Montinola
86x61cm
Oil on Canvas
2018
Artist Statement
Jason Montinola explores an indvidual’s task of projecting identity and levels of power through a series of sentinel paintings. The word sentinel has been further personified in lore and fiction as the ultimate watcher. Due to the word’s repeated fictionalization, its usage becomes a powerful tool to envision a figure safekeeping the most valuable of objects and civilizations. Oftentimes the item of protection is guarded so close and away from ordinary eyes, one would question the validity of its existence. Yet the existence of the sentinel as an unwavering force compels man to believe that something is being protected and carried across time.
Montinola transfers the role of the sentinel closer to the ordinary man as he identifies an individual’s capacity to become a sentinel to himself. He presents two separate sentinels, 10 and 14, held in a seemingly reverent state enveloped in darkness, directing the viewer’s focus on the figures alone without any distraction. Each sentinel is anonymous yet familiar, either morphed or fragmented but fully manifested up to the point of its inception. Their recognizable images either broken up or stitched together reveals man’s capacity to absorb influences and values he holds in the highest regard. Man takes these values upon himself and wears it as a mask of influence. He later on projects them together with his artifacts and his idols and uses it as a membrane that grants him the power to survive. Man’s competence rests on his capacity to safekeep his principles and beliefs and his ability to personify success. His embodiment changes the way he is perceived without ever so slightly changing his physique. For Montinola, man as a sentinel to himself does not mean he is superfluous and all-encompassing. In his paintings, a sentinel’s appearance is visually concise as his operation lies in his core and his capacity to protect it with his life. It is in his potential to wield it as he aims to ascend or seek comfort in his place. Each person in the world is a sentinel to themselves.