Artist Profile - Jessie Brennan
| Artist Name | Jessie Brennan |
| University | Royal College of Art |
| Degree | MA Printmaking, 2007 |
| Profile |
I am interested in the unsettling psychological and metaphorical spaces uncovered in the apparent opposites of good and evil, freedom and repression, the familiar and the strange, and the complex and uncertain boundaries at which they lie. Although the world appears stable, grounded and ‘understandable’, on closer examination we increasingly experience its true nature – as shifting and groundless. My work is concerned with the feelings that arise when we are confronted by the ‘what-is’ and the ‘what-appears-to-be’. It attempts to reveal the contradictory situation of ‘knowing’ and, at one and the same time, ‘not knowing’; the paradox of being human. Drawing is fundamental to my working practice. Using a number of traditional printmaking techniques, for example, etching, stone lithography, and relief processes, I employ an energetic approach to image-making; scraping, splashing and scratching, the plate is drawn and etched, re-drawn and re-etched, evolving through several stages of the print process with spontaneity and freshness. Creative decisions are made about what to ‘draw in’ and what to ‘scrape out’. There is constant dialogue between the making and the idea, a close connection between craft and concept. Most recently, I have made large mixed media drawings (using a combination of resist materials such as oil paint, acrylic, stop-out varnish, emulsion, wax crayon etc) that demand a very physical engagement with the drawing process. For me, drawing becomes not only a way of transferring ideas into print and visa versa but also a way of thinking itself. My subjects have consistently been concerned with the figure and, self-portraiture has played an important role in the work. The self-portrait is utilized in several ways, to explore narrative, using it to parody and mimic, and formally in the construction of compositions. By dealing in metaphor and creating fictions ideas are realised into print. Objects, bundles of bears, kitchen utensils and miniaturized figures are brought onto the pictorial stage. The work tells of our world as harbouring contradictions; they form an uncanny and convincing reality in which the self is not necessarily a place of comfort; rather it is mapped, negated, full of strategy and intrigue. Ambivalence between characters sets the scene for ambiguity between the absurd, the normal, the poetic, and the everyday in which children, animals and objects themselves look back at us, but with what exactly is hard to say: curiosity, menace, desperation or wonder? Torture and play in my world become ambiguous; relationships between characters ambivalent. Awards Won: March 2006- My drawings, made after visits to the English National Ballet won Third Prize in the MAN GROUP Drawing Exhibition Febryary 2006- ‘On Reflection’ was selected for and sold at Originals 06 exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London. It won the Sir Peter Blake Award and The Arts Club Prize Awards Nominated For: April 2006- Short-listed for the 20/21st Century Art Prize for my work in the Interim Show (First Year exhibition) at the Royal College of Art Exhibitions: October 2006- The Royal College of Art hosted an exhibition by Paula Rego. Professor Chris Orr (head of Printmaking) invited me to draw, make, print and edition menu cards for the celebratory dinner in honour of Paula Rego herself. July/ August 2006- My work was selected for the Summer Exhibition 2006 at the Royal Academy. The piece sold; a book of 9 original etchings on steel called ‘On Reflection’. It is printed in a limited edition of 10. February 2006- Originals 06 exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London |
| Audio | |
| Interview |
What is your favourite film of all time? I can never choose! I liked Frida…Rabbit Proof Fence… To be honest I haven’t seen a film in a while so I’ve gone a bit blank. Books on the other hand… I just finished reading ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ by Lionel Shriver – a very powerful book in which a mother confronts the fact that her son committed mass murder in a high school shoot out. What music are you currently listening to and why? Janis Joplin, Toots and the Maytals, Baka Beyond, Joanna Newsome, PJ Harvey, Aretha Franklin, a bit of a mixed bag really – I sometimes like listening to music in the studios and workshops, or just a bit of radio 4 can be good in the background – something to ground you or alternatively it can be something of a pick-me-up! I’m into singing so I have quite a lot by female vocalists. Which living artists do you most admire and why? I heard Rachel Whiteread on Radio 4’s desert island disks sometime ago. I already admired her work a great deal (and did a lot of research into her ‘House’ and ‘Ghost’ for my BA dissertation) but there’s something wonderful about finding out that the artist’s work you admire so much is also made by someone very down to earth, reflective, and genuinely good. Nicola Hicks has a similar effect on me. She has made some powerful animal/ human sculptures. Which deceased artist do you most admire and why? I never met this artist but (I was a lodger with his widow) David Tinker was a painter and visual artist. He believed in and promoted draughtsmanship, and drawing is something that is fundamental to my work. There are many artists that I could site but one of the things I admire is their ability to be alone with their work (even if they had family, teaching commitments etc) they still gave themselves completely and utterly when it came to making the work. I think a good artist, despite being afraid of it, opens his/her heart to that very experience. Which exhibition that you have visited made the greatest impact on you and why? The recent exhibition of Bill Viola’s videos. I was moved by their powerful sense of spirituality. Here is an artist who is not afraid to use ‘unsexy’ themes and difficult ones too (I’m thinking of life and death) and manages to convey a sense of becoming and humanity without it getting mixed up in cliché. Am I allowed another one? The first time I saw Paula Rego's work – I got goose bumps down my spine. What is the question you get asked most frequently about your work and how do you answer it? Why Self-portraits! (Although in fact I haven’t actually included many on DegreeArt.com, I realise!). I guess it started by my wanting to be completely faithful to drawing from life. So convenience was a factor but certainly not the sole reason for it. Later, when I began to see that other resources (such as photography) were equally fruitful & provided more scope for ideas self-portraiture became a vehicle for trying to ask questions about identity. I was very interested in the idea of split personalities, and of apparent opposites of good and evil. Later still, I began to utilize self-portraiture as a tool for narrative and appropriation. It was a way of commenting not only upon my own psychological world but that of those around me. I still use the self-portrait occasionally to this end but my subject matter has broadened. I am very interested in animals at the moment and they have begun to appear in the work. What/ who inspired you to be an artists? Many things really. My parents weren’t artists but they brought me up in a way that allowed me to be myself, ask questions, be reflective. They gave me the space to try things out without the heavy burden of expectation. My tutors at both Foundation and Degree level were incredibly supportive and encouraging. I am very single-minded when it comes to my work and they recognised that (and challenged me in a supportive environment). I suppose another important experience was the death of my father 3 and a half years ago. It tears you open in the most profound and enriching way. Can you tell us about where you make your art and what if any the significance of this location is? Being an artist who (at the moment at least) makes prints I need to work in the studios and workshops that have the necessary printmaking equipment. Special presses, screens, plates and stones are needed for ways of working such as etching, screen printing, relief and lithographic processes. But I also enjoy making works on paper – large drawings and paintings that require a large studio space in which I can run about, throw ink around and get physical with the drawing process (as printmaking methods also demand of me). The studio is rather solitary whereas the workshops tend to be more social spaces (with technicians and other artists working alongside each other) both aspects of which I enjoy equally as much. What do like most about being an artist? That’s hard. I think there is a single-mindedness that comes with being an artist; a sense of a great need or drive to make work, as powerful as the need to eat, sleep, etc. – it’s a desperate attempt at trying to understand the world and our place within it. The experience of ‘making work’ is not always full of joy and ease; it can be an equally dark and difficult place: a space in which we discover things about ourselves and the world that we might not necessarily want to confront. And yet still I have a thirst for embarking on that journey. The fact that there is a possibility for that journey to be financially supportive (that I can call it my job) is fantastically healthy. What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date? I’m not quite sure what this question really means. I think “achievement” is a problematic term for artists. In any case, my answer is drawing my father during the last few weeks of his life before he died of leukaemia. What are your plans for the coming year? I am currently studying MA Printmaking at the Royal College of Art. This is a 2 year full-time course and I will be entering into my final year in October. The course culminates in The Show in May 2007 and so all work from October will be geared towards this final exhibition. Please see the Royal College of Art website for dates, times and details of The Show 2007. |
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