Jennifer Randall Artist

Bio

Jennifer Randall is a Fine Art Painter working in San Luis Obispo, California, and Portland, Oregon.
Having graduated from the Academy of Art in San Francisco in 1988, she moved to find work in Los Angeles, where she is from. This lead to a job co-creating the graphics and cover design for Tom Petty’s tour book during the 'Great Wide Open' Tour. Her neighbors at the time included designer Richard Tyler, while an emerging jeans company called 'Lucky Brand’ was manufacturing its prototype fashion wear on a floor below. This was an amazingly and creatively energized atmosphere which helped Jennifer produce artistically significant work which which was shown regularly in downtown Los Angeles.

During time spent in Europe and Mexico, travel and experience brought new eyes and attitudes towards artwork and creativity. Jennifer found that her subject matter and color expanded exponentially to cover the new and exciting vistas being experienced.

Her travels have never stopped and while living in the Kansas for a few years, having moved her family to work on projects, Jennifer’s artistic direction moved towards the people and rich history of the area. Having already worked on an art series of 'Remarkable Women', Randall's paintings quickly embraced Kansas Women as a sub series of paintings.

She says of this work, "I found something comforting, inspiring and fascinating about the life stories of these Kansan women. Out of incredible circumstances and against so many odds, they paved a way for themselves and others, creating memorable stories. Some based on survival, some on a driven passion, each story contains a piece of all of us. The series also explores the deeper connection we have to each other and where we come from. Each of us have joy, success, struggles, sorrow, and we are often perceived a certain way by how we emotionally and physically display these life events. I have chosen to paint each of these characters from an objective and hopefully new, viewpoint."

And she found her focus through the work behind this seminal series of paintings. "I enjoy the research of each life I choose to depict in a painting. I embrace the common denominators in our lives along with the differences. I feel less alone as a 'modern day' woman, as I face many of the same gender and life struggles. Each of our lives are remarkable in their own way.”

Randall’s singular belief is that “art has a way of making you think, and look at things differently”. Her 'Remarkable Kansas Women' is part of an even larger, on-going series depicting singular women from around the world. She states, "This series was inspired by my interest in the historical lives of women. The force and determination of each life through the most unusual of circumstances is fascinating and worth reconstructing.” The paintings from this series have been shown at museums and galleries throughout Kansas.

Jennifer Randall's series of paintings is called Circus Hearts, and explores the 'heart’ as the center of experience, both visually and personally. The paintings are vibrant and appealing. They have been on display in San Luis Obispo, California at the Art Museum, in San Luis Obispo downtown businesses, and at The Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach. She continues to work on this series to this day.

Randall is excited to share her most recent conceptual artwork. "In my new and latest work, Camisole de Force, an Exploratory Project, I am connecting and creatively building on the physicality of the straight jacket. These jackets are addressing and accumulating a historical, personal or social theme that ties in with emotional or intellectual constraint and binding. 
Within each piece, I draw from my own personal experiences, tapping into history and cultural climate. 
The term is also used metaphorically, as in the phrase "intellectual straitjacket" to criticize very tight boundaries on what ideas are allowed, as imposed by an ideological system of thought.
The history of binding and control can be unraveled culture by culture as well as through ideologies. The binding and control of women can be found throughout time. I research, explore these dynamics and create artworks based on the accumulative findings along with my personal response to those findings. 
With current research and planning for the Camisole De Force project, I have begun to unravel the psychological and emotional similarities to the garment itself, being bound by personal, cultural or gender norms. 

Each straight jacket I create represents a time personally, historically, and/or culturally, of being bound. 
Themes and ideas build on each other as the project unfolds. 
I research the historical, cultural and physical aspects of the straight jacket and their creation, as well as the artistic approach to the design and content. 

I am close to finishing a series of 12-20 of these jackets. I sew them myself, then paint, along with mixed media, resulting in the final pieces. 

The end result of my Camisole de Force series will take shape in the form of exhibition of these works entitled ‘Camisole de Force', involving both performative dynamics and formal display of these works in a gallery setting.

www.jenniferrandall.com

jenrandallart@yahoo.com