Jennifer Davis
Jennifer Davis’s paintings explore the narrative between self and material, serving as a form of open-ended conversation. Jennifer explains “I consider myself to have a very personal approach to colour and gesture, working intuitively and using my instincts. Painting and drawing give me the platform to express this. Drawing and journaling throughout the years has informed the development of a personal language which translates directly into painting.”
We Caught up with Jennifer in the lead up to our Mothshell Ambit exhibition!
Weald - Can you tell us about the subject matter of the work included in Mothshell Ambit?
Jennifer - I want to tell stories in my work and capture imagined scenes. I’ve always felt the need to create images that hold notions of narrative and humour. In this way, a great deal of the subject matter is the process of painting itself, and how it allows for feelings and ideas to materialise through this transformation.
In the past year I became more interested in the idea of retelling and revisiting ideas from history and translating it through my own lens. I was looking at the idea of public executions and the parallels to modern day cancel culture, especially surrounding women’s experiences. Wanting to make a sort of satirical critique of this I began to include imagery in my work that simplified this idea.
Weald -Does symbolism play a part in your painting?
Jennifer - Yes, through a repetitive process characters emerge from a personal language that represent something, often giving it dual meanings. I like to keep these ambiguous and open for the viewer to interpret. Using text alongside becomes part of the process, helping to expand the narratives and alludes to the symbolic meanings.
“A bell jar, holding possibilities of something precious, sacred, ready to be observed. But the contents were bare, the shelter cracked and deemed ‘irreparable’. A sense that something of beauty once occupied this space of illusionary protection”
Useless Bell-Jar
Weald - You were finishing your degree at Brighton University during the Covid pandemic, how did this affect how you produced work
Jennifer - During my final year of my BA I was working on a collection of work that had come from a series of drawings. They were interestingly already playing with themes of isolation and introspection. It was weird because it felt like these paintings had suddenly manifested into reality. In March we were told to pack up our things and take it all home. I attempted to set up a studio in my bedroom with tarpaulin. It was an absolute mess and I was using oil paints too so I was basically filling my room with fumes and felt myself going a bit crazy. I think it had an affect on the last few pieces of work made at this time as it was in a much more manic and uneasy state of mind. When finishing the degree I continued to draw on a daily basis in a journalistic manner. New motifs and language began to develop during this time, much of it being based around the collapse of self.
Weald - Could you tell us more about how you came to use mixed media & collage in your work?
Jennifer - finishing university, covid was still present, so I had to make do with making work from home (as I deferred a year of my MA due to a lack of studio.) This time it seemed impossible to work on a larger scale as I had moved house and there seemed no way around being able to work in oil paint. I reverted to using gouache on paper, it still gave me the freedom to mix colour and have some sense of fluidity. However unlike oil there was not much way I could work into the paint and build it up (which is common in my process). I found a lot of flaws in this as they seemed too rigid, so impulsively I began to cut them all up. I had piles of these pieces, scattered everywhere. It made sense to do something with them so I started to piece them together and they began to form new compositions and narratives. It was a playful process, and allowed me to experiment with the relation of space. I see these pieces as works in themselves, but they also informed future larger scale pieces.
Weald - What are you working on at the moment?
Jennifer -I finished my MA last summer, and since then have found myself without a studio. I have returned to working at a smaller scale, using the same idea of mixed media and collage. I have been working on developing new language and motif within my work which will hopefully soon be able to take life on a much larger scale on canvas. Since finishing the Masters, I have continued to write and this is an area I would like to expand upon, interweaving aspects of social and individual commentary; the confessional and the fiction. Humour is at the forefront of my practice, so being able to express this in both the image and in words is something I want to continue to work on.
Weald - Please give us a 5 song studio soundtrack or podcast recommendation:
Jennifer - always listen to music when in the studio and making work. Most of what I listen to is quite upbeat, and often dance tracks. It works best for me to throw myself into things with high energy and to have little distraction around me. Although every now and then I do need a softer song, often for when I’m reflecting.
• Another Place - Dusky, Lucy Tun
• Kammy (like i do) - Fred Again...
• On the Run - Kelela
• 6 Underground - Sneaker Pimps
• Staring at the Henry Moore - Aldous Harding