Jen Gash
“Jen has something else and it’s that thing that art has. It’s something unquantifiable. It moves us in a way we didn’t know we could be moved and it opens up a whole new way of seeing the world and that is quite remarkable for an artist to be able to do that” Tai-Shan Shierenberg
“What I find most compelling in your work is your relationship with paint itself. There is a genuine openness in how you allow it to behave, an understanding that control and release can coexist. That tension feels central to the strength of the practice. You set conditions, as you describe, and then allow something to unfold. That sense of ‘Wu Wei’ is not just conceptual, it is visible in the surface” Kurt Beers @beerslondon
Artist Statement
Like many artists, my relationship with painting has been
turbulent at times. Yet my love of paint and my deep need to create and
investigate the world visually has remained constant.
Painters often strive to control, contain, or manipulate
their medium, but paint resists such authority. Its unpredictable, fluid nature
makes it an ideal partner for exploring the equally uncontrollable natural
world. In my practice, I often set up conditions or parameters that allow the
paint to act on its own terms. What emerges often aligns with the concept of Wu
Wei—a state of spontaneous, effortless action that mirrors nature without
force, ego, or anxiety. This is sometimes a starting point or sometimes occurs later
in my process.
I am currently drawn to themes of transformation and
instability: how landscapes shift over time with and without human influence;
landscapes as psychological terrains; the fragility and peculiarities of human
beings; the tension between being and doing; and the ways we engage—or
disengage—from the world around us. I incorporate elements from real places but
also construct imagined landscapes, allowing both observation and invention to
shape the work.
I work primarily in oils and acrylics on varied surfaces and
at multiple scales, choosing materials that best support the interplay between
intention and chance.