Press Release - Spin by JP McNicholas
JP McNicholas - Title
Medium on wood panel. 18 x 48.5 inches framed. 2026.
Spin
a solo exhibition
JP McNicholas
Opening Reception
February 28th at 6pm
On view until
April 11, 2026
pt.2 Gallery
1523b Webster St.
Oakland, CA
pt. 2 Gallery is pleased to present Spin, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Oakland-based artist JP McNicholas. This marks the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.
In Spin, McNicholas continues his instinct-driven practice, grounding it in the rhythms of daily life. The works begin as drawings made in transit – on ferry and bus rides across the Bay, during bike commutes through industrial corridors. Using a narrow sketchbook reminiscent of a film strip, he captures fragments of experience as they unfold. Micro-interactions, shifting light, and the subtle sway and bumps of a boat or bus all enter the page. These drawings later expand into paintings where time stretches, loops, and overlaps.
JP McNicholas - Title
Medium on wood panel. 24.5 x 24.5 inches framed. 2026.
The exhibition takes its title from the idea of spin as both motion and interpretation. To spin is to rotate, to come and go, to circle back. It is also to frame an experience through a particular lens. Spins can be positive, negative, or neutral, but they are always personal. The repetition of daily routine becomes cyclical rather than static. Memory merges with present experience. What happened and what is imagined begin to blur.
Alongside these more intimate, vignette-like compositions are larger landscape paintings that expand the scope of the exhibition. These works draw from trips and moments away from routine. They feel more open, panoramic, and reflective. If the smaller works capture the compressed rhythm of everyday transit, the larger landscapes allow space for pause and distance. Together, they build a layered world that moves between fleeting and sustained.
McNicholas paints first thing in the morning, trusting immediacy before hesitation sets in. Each painting carries a vivid orange underpainting that subtly pulses through the surface. The color functions as a persistent base layer, like past experience filtering into the present. Figures, insects, fragments of suburban architecture, and rays of light recur across compositions. Some imagery reflects observed scenery, while other elements draw from childhood memory. These repeating forms create a visual language that builds a world at once fictional and familiar.
JP McNicholas - Title
Medium on wood panel. 16 x 48.5 inches framed. 2026.
Spin proposes that disorientation is not necessarily negative. A spinning sensation can feel dizzying, cyclical, or endless, but it can also signal momentum and transformation. Within the repetition of everyday parameters, McNicholas finds space for invention. The world turns, experiences shift, and meaning is continuously reframed.
J.P. McNicholas is an Oakland based multidisciplinary artist, focusing primarily on drawing and painting, with an educational background in functional ceramics and printmaking. Work also includes zine making and other printed matter. His work has been primarily exhibited in the Bay Area.