Jenna North: general artist statement
My work investigates natural/virtual phenomenon as seen through energy fields of pattern and chaos created through a vast array of mediums to simulate extreme weather and natural/human produced disasters. Being highly experimental, my process is often physical, much like an alchemist, choosing substance and form for their inherent conceptual associations and transformative chemical/optical properties. My painting process further coagulates the conceptual/material dichotomy by heating/burning, flooding and painting directly on water. As an interdisciplinary artist with a seemingly limitless base of mediums; painting remains central, and my identity with this complex substance spills into my sculptural installations, video and performance. This investigative approach to material and conceptual experiments is serious, sensuous and mischievous.
The current work oscillates between two distinct, yet interconnected projects. Prior to leaving San Francisco to move to central New York I was unaware of hydrofracking, and rashly introduced by the looming black and red yard signs, banners and bumper stickers. It was around this time that I had to come to terms with putting my Underwater Maldives project on hold, due to the political unrest of a military coup. The two efforts are similar in that my initial approach, interest and vision came from a naive standpoint of an onlooker questioning the destructive impact of the human demands on nature. In Underwater Maldives the idea is to create the illusion of the water flooding a section of the capital island, Male’, bringing awareness to the consequences of our interdependent, global economy on the Maldives and other low-lying islands in the Asia-Pacific region. As it became more and more difficult to continue working on the Maldives project, my creative inspiration shifted to the local level as I began developing a fracking obsessed artist alter ego named Wendy Well, who views the world through an opportunistic lens, curiously interacting with, collecting and combining objects that are reminiscent of her research and limited knowledge of the hydrofracking industry.
My work investigates natural/virtual phenomenon as seen through energy fields of pattern and chaos created through a vast array of mediums to simulate extreme weather and natural/human produced disasters. Being highly experimental, my process is often physical, much like an alchemist, choosing substance and form for their inherent conceptual associations and transformative chemical/optical properties. My painting process further coagulates the conceptual/material dichotomy by heating/burning, flooding and painting directly on water. As an interdisciplinary artist with a seemingly limitless base of mediums; painting remains central, and my identity with this complex substance spills into my sculptural installations, video and performance. This investigative approach to material and conceptual experiments is serious, sensuous and mischievous.
The current work oscillates between two distinct, yet interconnected projects. Prior to leaving San Francisco to move to central New York I was unaware of hydrofracking, and rashly introduced by the looming black and red yard signs, banners and bumper stickers. It was around this time that I had to come to terms with putting my Underwater Maldives project on hold, due to the political unrest of a military coup. The two efforts are similar in that my initial approach, interest and vision came from a naive standpoint of an onlooker questioning the destructive impact of the human demands on nature. In Underwater Maldives the idea is to create the illusion of the water flooding a section of the capital island, Male’, bringing awareness to the consequences of our interdependent, global economy on the Maldives and other low-lying islands in the Asia-Pacific region. As it became more and more difficult to continue working on the Maldives project, my creative inspiration shifted to the local level as I began developing a fracking obsessed artist alter ego named Wendy Well, who views the world through an opportunistic lens, curiously interacting with, collecting and combining objects that are reminiscent of her research and limited knowledge of the hydrofracking industry.