JENNY CARPENTER
Artist Statement
I question the validity of a fairy tale ending. Life just isn’t that clean. My journey isn’t. It is emotional and physical: beginning with the shock of becoming a mother to identical twins, through the sadness of moving, leaving the city behind and reaching acceptance that it will all be ok…at some point. With humor, insight and fear I push forward. Through the use of layered gesso, thinly applied oil paint and attention to grain on birch panels, I develop dreamlike imagery. I keep some aspects visible, on the façade, but I am also quite private and leave more information hidden. Some aspects of the images remain unknown, utilizing the grain to both hide and reveal the person, their past and their future. But you can’t take it too seriously — it is all nonsense after all — a bit like falling down the rabbit hole. Here’s hoping a grin without a face doesn’t greet me on the other side.