Jennifer Davis
Rooster, acrilyc/graphite, 17 x 24 inches
Secret Handshake, detail, acrylic/graphite, 12.5 x 24 inches
Portrait (2), acrylic/graphite on hardboard, 5 x 5 inches
Singer , detail, acrylic/graphite, 18 x 18 inches
Of Two Minds, acrylic/graphite, 14 x 24 inches
Float, acrylic/graphite, 12 x 16 inches
Unhinged
Artist Statement
I try to strike a cord by finding a balance between things I find beautiful and darker themes running just below the surface. If I painted my pictures with dark bold colors (as has been “suggested” to me many times) they might seem overly gloomy and depressing. Instead, I think they celebrate beautiful things as if through the eyes of a child that has reluctantly grown up a little bit. I take such great joy in the act of painting so it is funny/odd that they sometimes look very somber. Maybe today I will paint some smiles!
Jennifer Davis creates lyrical figurative works of serious tenderness and beauty. She lures us into her painted world through flowing line, pastel palette and a quixotic sensibility. Her signature style belies her worry and the enduring mystery that permeates her realm. Throughout her compositions, Davis presents an array of fantastic characters and transmuted creatures who seem happy to co-exist in a flat landscape devoid of contextual cues. It is a visionary place. And it resonates with the pictorial truth of Jennifer Davis’ bewilderment and love.
In describing her process, Davis explains that her images rise up out of each surface while she works. She begins her compositions under painting simple territories of flat color. Nearly always, the eyes (of animal or plant) appear first, like portals into some sentient being to which Davis intuits a surrounding form. It can be said that her paintings are self portraits, but not in any staid sense of the word. She appears in each composition—like an avatar of many guises—her primary incarnation a wide-eyed girl who is mild yet ever-vigilant. She is patient with aliens, a friend to plants and animals; always serving as a protector for the meek and those who can not run. She is, indeed, the mistress of her domain.
Thanks to Jerry Shawback for finding this artist.
Posted by Carmelita Caruana
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