Innovative Artist Jennifer Poon

EYES IN Magazine Editor-in-Chief interviews artist Jennifer Poon and highlights her amazing works. EYES IN Magazine is now available on the Apple Newsstand and soon on the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook.

Jennifer Poon’s concentrated, visceral lines convey the fragile nature of and the sensitive balance between our physical and spiritual selves. Fusing the political and the painterly, Poon addresses head on the complexities of image making, the beauty of art, and the masculinity of traditional painting, while excavating the blurred area between the mortal and the psychological. The Artist’s paintings, sculptures, and etchings are slightly unaligned; her overlapping imagery is full of emotive expression, yet devoid of morality or imperative outcome.

The clashing of culture, generation, and social bias is evident in her studio practice; Poon merges themes of race, sexuality, and personal identity with real life experience to create a unique perspective on our reaction to social pressures from the world around us. The Artist states, “In my work there is a dialogue that explores universal emotions, which are accessed through my own personal experiences. I’m striving to make sense of the world between our mortal bodies and the subconscious, and this has been the main focus of my studio practice. I use the body as an anchor for discussion of human emotion, death, and decay. These are basic to being human, and I want to bring these feelings up to the surface to create a connection between the work and the viewer, ultimately bringing the viewer back to a point of introspection.”

Despite clear synergies with other artists including Marlene Dumas, Egon Schiele, Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, and Edward Hopper, Poon’s work is technically and stylistically her own. As with any modern era figurative painter who explores violence, ambiguity, and irony, there is an extrapolation of ideas descended from Goya, but Dumas – and now Poon – are adept at settling a contemporary effect on the human condition. Poon’s intentionally undefined relationships create a cocktail of uncertainty, angst, and curiosity, establishing her place among art’s emotional provocateurs.

Awards

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• Best in Show, The San Francisco Society of Illustrators
Annual Show, San Francisco, CA | 2000
• Gold Award, The San Francisco Society of Illustrators
Annual Show, San Francisco, CA | 2000
• Silver Award, The San Francisco Society of Illustrators
Annual Show, San Francisco, CA | 2000

Solo Exhibitions

• A Temporary Space, Claire Oliver, New York, NY | 2010
• Without Words, Claire Oliver, New York, NY | 2008
• Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA | 2007
• New works, Gallery C, Los Angeles, CA | 2006

Group Exhibitions

• Anticipation, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York | 2009
• True Self, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, LA California | 2009
• SCOPE Miami, represented by Claire Oliver Gallery, Miami, FL | 2007
• Well hung, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2006
• Black and White Show, Compound Gallery, Portland, OR | 2006
• Beyond Representation, Dashboard Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2006
• Emerging Artist 2006 Art Fair, Gallery C, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ | 2006
• Papercuts, Gallery C, Los Angeles, CA | 2006
• RIS, Red Ink Studios, San Francisco, CA | 2006
• Los Angeles Art Show 2006 Art Fair, Gallery C, Los Angeles, CA | 2006
• Emerging Artist Emerge in Flint, Red Ink Studios, Flint, MI | 2005
• Also Awesome, Hallway Bathroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2005
• Labyrinth, Red Ink Studios, San Francisco, CA | 2005
• Paperawesome, Pigman Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2005
• Shiri Mordechay/Untitled, Pigman Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2005
• Heavy Petting Zoo, Red Ink Studios, San Francisco, CA | 2005
• Los Angeles Art Show 2005 Art Fair, Gallery C, Los Angeles, CA | 2005
• Emerging Artist 2005 Art Fair, Gallery C, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ | 2005
• See CA Now, Gallery C, Los Angeles, CA | 2004
• The Political Show, Pigman Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2004
• Freedom of Expression, Lankershm Gallery. Los Angeles, CA | 2004
• Looking at the city, Looking at the land, 66Balmy Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2004
• Telling Stories, 66Balmy Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2004
• New Paintings, 66Balmy Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2003
• The Loin Show, The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA | 2003