Jenny Michals

 

Featuring work by:


Tammy Rae Carland


Eliot K Daughtry


Kriss De Jong


Teri Claude Dowling


Jordy Jones


Jenny Michals


Hien Nguyen


Rev. Tim Taylor

 

Back to Main Page

Images

Use of these images is authorized only for publication in press relating to the EG: (r)Evolution of Gender Exhibition.

All images below © Jenny Michals.

Download print resolution images (press only!)
If you need stuffit expander for Mac or Windows click here.

These files are large, if you need any or all images sent to you on CD, please email: evolutionofgender@killerbanshee.com with your name/publication name/address.

www.jennymichals.com

Artist Statement PDF
Bio PDF

Artist Statement

A fluid perception of my self is at the base of my work, including identification with one gender or another. Distilling my sense of self through trickery is how I create my art.

Once I start thinking about art I can’t make it anymore. My mind gets in my way. I begin to question every mark I make, trying to locate its meaning. Being pretty logical and somewhat impatient person I want to put the art in its place before the ink is dry on the paper. In order to stay out of my own way when I draw, I follow the line from the pen and avoid deciding what the drawing will be for as long as possible. However the mind being what it is, at some point I see a foot or finger or an eye. At that point I complete the foot, or finger or eye, and continue on with my little charade, alternately trying not to decide what the drawing will be and choosing what it will be. This cycle goes on until the drawing is finished. Frequently emerging out of this game is a figure drawing whose gender is ambiguous.

The drawings are worked into colorful, carefree, and also dark paintings that incorporate both familiar and utterly unknown scenes. In order to create ambiguity about where and what EXACTLY is being depicted I paint realistically and leave other areas flat and two dimensional. The paintings also go through and investigative process. I add and delete at will, in order to find each piece. This process creates layers of stains from past incarnations.

Just below the film of consciousness within the subconscious sits all kinds of neuroses, repressed emotions and unacknowledged desires. This cast of unseen players can and does react. In my paintings the players manifest and embody emotional responses to those unappreciated desires and neuroses from below. The form of human emotions is nebulous, and I represent this world with beings, which are genderless, elongated and exaggerated. This not only bypasses the logic of the viewer, it disarms the power the subconscious has and establishes a bond of sympathy, creating rapport between seer and seen.

 

Bio

 

Jenny Michals

Exhibitions

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

1998 Signal Box Marilyn Studio, Los Angeles, CA
	    Collaboration with S.E. Barnet

1996	Traditional Essence of Time 
	    The Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA

1995 Untitled
	    The Claremont Graduate University Galleries, Claremont, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2003	EG: (r)Evolution of Gender  somArts, San Francisco, CA

2003	Right Mind(s) Bucciís and Heritage Square, Emeryville, CA

1997 It's the Cathode Ray Big Sail Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
	    featuring Skip Arnold, Mary Carothers, Patti Davidson, Joseph De Mario, John Pearson,
	    Joe Potts, Jennifer Steinkamp, Marnie Weber, Chirs Wilder 

1996	Bergamont Project Bergamont Station B5a, Santa Monica, CA

1996 Southern Summer Exchange San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA

1996	USC Exchange Show University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

1995	Personal Information The Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA

1995	Birds in Paper The Humanities Center, Claremont, CA 

1994	New Cats The Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA

1994	Studio Tour DA Gallery Pomona, CA

1993	Combine Effort Fig. 5 Gallery San Francisco, CA

1993	San Francisco Open Studios San Francisco, CA 

1993	End Show Contemporary Artists Center North Adams, MA


SELECTED AWARDS:

1995	Howard D. Mills and Winifred Van Dorn Mills Fellowship
	    The Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA

1994	Merit Scholarship The Claremont Graduate University	
	    Claremont, CA

1993	Bronze Award California Discovery Awards
	    Art of California Magazine

1990	Merit Scholarship Contemporary Artists Center
    	North Adams, MA

1990	Full Scholarship California State University Summer Arts '90


EDUCATION:

M.F.A. The Claremont Graduate University

Research at CADRE Institute
 {Computers, Art, Design, Research and Education}
   San JosÈ State University, San JosÈ, CA

Contemporary Artists Center North Adams, MA

Photo Screen-Printing, KALA/The W.O.R.K.S., San Francisco, CA

B.A. cum laude, Painting & Printmaking
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

Painting, Printmaking, & Bookmaking
Hochschule fur Bildende K¸nste, 
Braunschweig, Germany

TEACHING:  		

1999	Adjunct Professor Beginning Graphic Design
	    Long Beach Community College    

2000	Adjunct Professor Intermediate PhotoShop 
		Santa Monica College, Academy of Entertainment Technology

PUBLICATIONS:		

Oakland Tribune January 27, 2003
Artists find direction in Taking the leap

Claremont Courier May 8, 1996
A Picture Perfect House

North Adams Times Aug 9, 1993
North Adams artistsí center showcases contemporary 

For more information contact: Eliot K Daughtry or Kriss De Jong evolutionofgender@killerbanshee.com