Jennifer Moses

Artist Statement

My work is made of opposing visual and conceptual themes which both collide and coexist.  For example: the comic vs. the tragic, linear narrative vs. gestalt, line vs. shape, and flatness vs. the illusion of space. In the newest series, those elements are realized in a context that has shifted from the personal to the political. All of my work combines abstraction and representation and strives to find the intersection between humor and pathos.

Over the last 10 years I have used a visual language of flat shapes, compressed, and moving forms, and the juxtaposition of abstract and representational imagery. More recently, I have been exploring the mediums of Flashe and Ink on paper in concert with my oil paintings. The matt color shapes made from the thick Flashe paint are labor intensive to apply, and with this slow process, in concert with the speed and fluid properties of ink, I can alternate between intentional shifts of color shapes and impulsive improvisation.

 The paintings and drawings from the “Protest” series are inspired by the common visual language felt and seen whenever large numbers of people mass and unite in protest. I began the series during the Global Protest Wave of 2019 and continued with the renewed urgency in June 2020, responding to the energy and imagery of public dissent in a world desperate for transformation. The starting points for the work are images from the newspaper and artists such as Philip Guston’s early works of children playing war games in the street, and Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series.

In the series Rock, Paper, Scissors, I am exploring the child’s playground game both literally and metaphorically. It is a game of chance and anticipation designed to negotiate conflicts, make decisions, and establish power; rock dominates scissors, paper binds rock, and scissors cut paper. It is also a metaphor for artmaking, representing one aesthetic choice supplanting another. This kind of decision making and improvisational response to construct the final image is a signature of my work. In this time of uncertainty, power struggles, inequality and contests for supremacy, the random nature of a throw down, (one two three shoot), to determine winners and losers seems fitting.

Artist Bio

Jennifer Moses lives and paints in Boston Massachusetts. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art, and an MFA in painting at Indiana University. She has been included in exhibitions across the country and throughout New England. Her work has been reviewed in Art New England Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Sculpture Magazine and The Roswell Daily Newspaper. Her work has twice been included in the Northeast edition of New American Paintings. In addition, in 2014, Moses' paintings were published in the Book "Making Abstract Art" by Dean Nimmer. She has been collaborating with poets and publishing on the Broadsided Press website for many years. Awards include a fellowship to the University of Indiana, MFA painting program, a Blanch E. Colman award, and fellowships to Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, two residencies at Yaddo, the Jentel residency, and the Ragdale Foundation Artist Residency, and the Roswell Artist in Residence, in Roswell, NM. Moses is a Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire.

Work available on Artsy