New Work: “See You Jen”

This started as a temporary installation for the window at Pop-Up Art Gallery Berlin, and then crossed over to also become an oil painting, so that while the window will cease to exist the design will continue in another medium.

Window Installation, PVA & Vinyl on Glass, 2014 – 230 cm x 220 cm.

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Vernissage Event at Pop-Up Art Gallery Berlin, Photo by MESMO Geometric Artist

Oil on Canvas, 2014 – 100 cm x 100 cm.

One of my intentions when painting is to create something the viewer hasn’t seen before in an oil painting. I think this design in particular really achieves my intention, in fact it reminds me of a vibrant graphic on a computer screen – when I completed the work, even I had some trouble believing I was looking at an oil painting.

Now I will reveal the secret of the name of this work, “See You Jen”. The design is based on an engraving from one of the first sets of encyclopedias dedicated to ‘Applied Electricity’, printed around 100 years ago. This is a technical diagram showing the power generator which was in use at Columbia University in New York City around 1910. Columbia University is abbreviated to C.U. which sounds like ‘See You’, and it’s a generator which can be abbreviated to ‘Gen’ which sounds like ‘Jen’, hence the name ‘See You Jen’. So the name is an accurate if somewhat convoluted description of what you see when looking at this work. I chose the name to add a humanizing element to the piece.