Biography from American Design Ltd.:
|  Jerry Cajko finds subjects for his oil paintings in almost any scene --
architecture, landscapes, still life, the way a person sits or
stands. He then uses color, his most potent tool, to dissolve the
subject into irregular shapes, in multiple pastel tones. "Color," he
says, "is my clue -- bold or subdued khaki, mauve, or brilliant white.
Once involved with the subject, the strokes and colors interplay,
forming my impression -- an impression of a reality." For
example, Cajko personalizes the buildings that he paints by using
unpredictable hues, disappearing corners, hidden structures, and
intriguing shadows to gently draw the viewer toward an entrance. It's
what's inside --mystique, character," he explains. "It's a great
adventure for an artist to try to capture that." Where once he
traveled to faraway places to paint such scenes, Cajko now finds the
scenes that charm him in the Southwest.
Cajko studied at the
Ringling School of Art in Sarasota; during that time, he was selected
by the government of the Netherlands to receive a five-year scholarship
to the Jan van Eyck Academie. From there, he went on to Japan and
Hong Kong, absorbing and studying the local arts and cultures.
Then he was off to paint in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, India, and
Nepal. "Being an artist," he describes, "is like having an
international credit card; you get to participate in others' lives. Art
is the universal language."
While traveling and painting, Cajko
merged the techniques and philosophies of various countries with the
free spirit palette of Florida during the early Sixties and formed his
own unique impressionistic style. While in Japan, he absorbed
that culture's version of impressionism, concentrating on his subject
at great length, then painting quickly and purposely, leaving the
picture incomplete and offering an opening -- an enigma. He
refined techniques of spontaneity and intense observation, achieving a
new perspective on lightness and darkness that led him to create the
evocative works for which he has become famous.
Cajko paints
only in oils because, he states, "oil is a sensuous medium. It builds
up and is transparent. It doesn't stop the light; the light goes
through it. It's not dead; it can continue the color." He makes all of
his own colors, creating airy pastel shades that are tender, fragile,
but do not retreat from the subject matter. Cajko works outdoors,
sketching; he then paints, "mixing like mad as I go -- for the mood and
to get the exact lighting."
A partial listing of those
corporate collections where Cajko's paintings are displayed includes
Xerox Corporation, Ciba Pharmaceuticals, Arabian American Oil Company,
and Bechtel Corporation. Cajko believes that his paintings -- like
those of any artist -- should be sensed and absorbed, but not
overanalyzed. "If you begin to dissect a painting," he asserts, "you've
lost the joy."
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