Jenny Brillhart

Lives and works in Blue Hill, ME, USA

Artist statement

My paintings are often made from a set-up/still life, created in the corner space where floor meets wall. These set-ups are built with found material from house projects, the kitchen, the local boatyard, past art projects, travel and photgraphy. I arrange and re-arrange these objects in my studio which then create a visual plot, with the floor, wall and changing light as perpetual players. This busy burst of action and physicality allows for unexpected outcomes. The object's narratives and functions, first as individual things, will then change relationally in this new situation -- like they could become compositional verticals, value, color or shadow-makers. The set-up or still life and it’s documentation is grounded in this particular space, and in the routine light and time we all move through. I also photograph ready-made places, like a room, or cut up prints of flowers, or a tub, and work with the arrangments offered up through collage. Putting paint to surface, is three-dimensional and a building process. It is another elemental thing, referencing itself as well as its participation with what came before. For the larger, installation based, low relief sculpture the process is as described above but the set-ups are bigger and are the final artwork. Usually I create a system of limitations for myself like horizon line or a gradient. These pieces are spontaneous and intuitive, within the given framework. I love so many artists and how much can be seen today. Some of my...

Artwork