Jon Serl led a full, peripatetic life following a variety of occupations before he began to paint, around the time of World War II. After working in vaudeville, in film, and as a laborer in the Southwest, Serl settled in California and increasingly devoted his time to painting. His highly expressionistic works are usually executed in oil on found surfaces with thick, agitated impastos. By turns dreamlike and nightmarish, the paintings project a charged atmosphere that draws the viewer into the cryptic, unfolding narrative.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Espanola," exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.