Jay Jensen
St-Lambert, Canada
Artist Jay Jensen balances realism and imagination in his atmospheric paintings. He has loved drawing since childhood, sketching fish, sharks, and whales on cardboard sheets from his father’s laundered shirts. After studying printmaking in graduate school, Jay stepped away from painting for over two decades to focus on family and work. Now in catch-up mode, he is deeply committed to making each piece as exceptional as possible. “I want to make images that are interesting to look at, both up close and from a distance,” says Jay. He paints in his ninth-floor apartment in Montreal, enjoying the unobstructed views of the skyline and cargo boats on the St. Lawrence Seaway. When not painting, he plays guitar, cycles, and works full-time.
Artist Statement
Creating each painting is a pursuit of excellence for me, and I often find myself revisiting them even after considering them "finished." Achieving the highest quality is a driving force in my artistic process.
I guess, above all, I consider myself to be a figurative painter. To me, it's the most challenging and the most rewarding direction for a painter to take. It requires good compositional skills, i.e., working in the abstract and a mastery of technique to create a slice of the world that seems real but also imaginary.
I don't deliberately try to make a statement or convey a message with my work either. I'm attracted to light and color, and that's what I try to reproduce in my paintings. I want to make images that are interesting to look at, both up close and from a distance. Whatever emotion or meaning may come through happens as a by-product, and as a result, I was the one wielding the brush and mixing the colors. One of my favorite quotes by an artist that illustrates that I am by no means unique in how I regard my work comes from Edward Hopper, who famously said: "What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house."
I guess, above all, I consider myself to be a figurative painter. To me, it's the most challenging and the most rewarding direction for a painter to take. It requires good compositional skills, i.e., working in the abstract and a mastery of technique to create a slice of the world that seems real but also imaginary.
I don't deliberately try to make a statement or convey a message with my work either. I'm attracted to light and color, and that's what I try to reproduce in my paintings. I want to make images that are interesting to look at, both up close and from a distance. Whatever emotion or meaning may come through happens as a by-product, and as a result, I was the one wielding the brush and mixing the colors. One of my favorite quotes by an artist that illustrates that I am by no means unique in how I regard my work comes from Edward Hopper, who famously said: "What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house."
Artist Background
Colorado State University
Master of Fine Arts, 1980
Gettysburg College
Bachelor of Arts, 1976