Page 54 - The Hunt - Fall 2022

CONVERSATION
STARTER
Fun at first glance, the paintings of Kennett Square’s Robert C. Jackson command serious respect as they
keep people talking.
BY ROGER MORRIS I PHOTOS BY JIM GRAHAM
Initially, it appears to be another beautiful Rocky Mountain landscape, with its stately granite peaks, snow fields, rolling meadows, placid blue lake and puffy clouds. But walk your eyes back a few steps to take in the entire canvas, and you realize it’s actually a painting of a canvas tacked onto a wall that’s the actual canvas. In the lower right corner
of this painting within a painting, there’s an orange balloon dog, his palette and brush
at the ready, contemplating the next canine stroke. Said balloon dog is standing atop four overturned wooden soda cartons from drink manufacturers who’ve likely gone out of business a long time ago.
Three more balloon dogs are gathered at the foot of the painting, looking on in approval. And at the very bottom of the canvas are yet-to-be- painted sketches of depleted paint tubes and what looks like a crumpled towel. “I don’t want my art to be just another beautiful painting hanging on the wall,” says Robert Cole Jackson, the real artist behind the brush, at his studio in Kennett Square. “I want my work to be conversational.”
So we start that conversation.
“How much are you charging for this painting when it’s finished?” I ask.
52 THE HUNT MAGAZINE fall 2022