Finagler, ruminating, 2008, oil on wood, 4 x 3 inches
jenny kanzler
current exhibitions:
January 3 to February 17, 2012: So inappropriate, Jenny Kanzler. Curator: Kris Strawser, President's Office Exhibition Space, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Opening Reception: Thursday, January 5, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
upcoming exhibitions:
April 2012: I'm Sorry Mrs. Krauthammel. Curator: Gavin Hecker, PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia
recent activities:
epic childhood interview with alex cohen for the bucks county herald
elephant's eye studio tour, visiting artist, studio of alex cohen,
pictures of the body, pennsylvania academy of the fine arts
Lunchroom, 2011, oil on panel, 6 x 8 inches
Girls' Room, 2011,oil on panel, 8 x 6 inches
Mrs. Krauthammel, 2011, oil on canvas, 10 x 7 inches
Recounting the Clash of the Titans, 2011, oil on panel, 8 x 6 inches
Finagler, speculating, 2008, oil on wood, 3 x 4 inches
Strawberries, 2008, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
Picnic, 2007, oil on canvas, 40 x 26 inches
Party shoes, 2009, 10 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
Butterfingers, 2009, oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches
Mother May I, 2009, oil on canvas, 42 x 60 inches
Horsey, 2008, oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches
Yellow mattress, 2007, oil on panel, 48 x 48 inches
Pimento Loaf, 2007, oil on panel, 8 x 12 inches
Weisswurst, 2009, oil on wood, 4 x 5 inches
ink and watercolor drawings:
Egg blowing, 2010, ink and watercolor on paper, 2 x 2 inches
Red rover, 2010, ink and watercolor on paper, 4 x 4 inches
Swing set, 2010, ink and watercolor on paper, 3 x 3 inches
New best friend, 2010, ink and watercolor on paper, 8 x 5 inches
Sick on the way home, 2010, ink and watercolor on paper, 3 x 2.5 inches
mixed media sculpture:
Hopscotch, 2010, mixed media, 60 x 120 inches
Rabbits, attachment and capture, 2010, mixed media, 12 x 14 inches
Flower sniff, 2010, mixed media, 4 x 4 inches
Boots, 2010, mixed media, 4 x 4 inches
Pine flower, 2010, mixed media, 3 x 2 inches
Chincoteague, 2010, mixed media, 4 x 4 inches
interviews/press:
bucks county herald
may 19, 2011, epic childhood interview with alex cohen
Investigations In Art: Alex Cohen
Essay # 24, Epic Childhood
This will be the third year that I am participating in
the Elephant’s Eye Bucks County Studio Tour and pleased to be joined by
Jenny Kanzler as the visiting artist in my studio. Jenny was in the
graduate program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts when I was
studying there and I fell under the spell of her imaginative
paintings. In advance of the tour I wanted to discuss some aspects of
her artwork. This is an excerpt from our conversation—the entire
interview can be read on my website, www.themagpie.org
Alex: Do you feel like the place that you are painting from is a
harkening back to your childhood or are those elements of a childhood
narrative a jumping off point to another place entirely?
Jenny: The latter. It’s a way of quickly getting to the heart of
emotional experience because that’s the point when I learned
everything… well I’m still learning.
A: It’s when your paradigms are formed.
J: Like the first time you learn what a cavity is—you come to
take for granted what a cavity is later in life, but the first time you
learn about it it’s kind of horrifying. When I think back about my
childhood there’s this blending between what happened, what I imagined
happened based on stories people told me, and what is the equivalent of a
memory that is the memory of a dream. It’s all intertwined.
A: Do you find that painting preserves the memory for you?
J: I don’t think it helps preserve the memory, but it helps
preserve the feeling associated with the memory. Starting with
something concrete like that you can communicate the anxiety or whatever
is contained in the center of that memory that makes it so palpable.
A: Do you find your stories thread together in any larger narrative?
J: Yes, they do. Its not so much about telling what happened as
it is about gathering a personal mythology. I like how in a family you
have these stories that everyone tells and over the years you don’t even
have to tell the whole story, you just refer to them and everyone knows
what you’re talking about.
A: You do have such an affection for the foibles of childhood and
the dicey experiences—are those the socially awkward experiences you
are looking at?
J: I was either always the underdog or was in a situation where I
had a lot of empathy for the underdog. So there were a lot of
experiences. I mean it was epic, childhood was epic which is why it
felt like it needed a mythology.
A: I’m curious about what aspects of childhood are poised for painting?
J: Operating as an emotional being that hasn’t been fully
socialized, everything has emotional content and the uncanny is all
around you. You know you have a home but there are so many unfamiliar
things in the home. Like you are in the bathroom and the shower curtain
has butterflies that you look at one day and see as old men’s faces and
suddenly it doesn’t feel like home anymore Something has changed and
it’s frightening.
A: That’s right, there is this immediate nostalgia for your
environment when you are little and you are fascinated with what feels
familiar, yet you know so little about it, so it has that capacity to
become alienating.
J: There’s so much potential to be frightened. We had a red
carpet in our bedroom. When I was a kid I learned that red was
associated with fire and hell so I thought this carpet was the portal to
hell and I was terrified. Adults don’t really worry about that because
they understand it’s just a carpet.
A: Do you want to say a little more about the comedic aspect in your work?
J: I guess I’m disturbed by the way that there is something funny
in tragedy, that there is something pathetic about the human condition.
I don’t want to see it that way but it’s hard not to when you step back
and you are surprised that there is humor in it. So it’s about
probing. But the comedy is also relief.
A: It reconciles absurdity. I’m curious to hear how you’d describe the comedic element in your New Best Friend painting?
J: I think I was kind of making fun of myself in that painting. I
was thinking about the friend triangle. There was this sought after
friend and I was battling with this other friend for her approval. I
was caught up in that trial. Every morning one summer that friend would
come in and say, “you’re my best friend,” and the next day Janet was
her best friend. And she used to bring sweet-tarts, the ones that come
in a package of three. Two were always for her, but whoever was that
friend for the day would get that third sweet-tart. And we put up with
it and I was devastated when it wasn’t my day. It was awful. But when
it was my day I was very proud of myself. That image is of when it was
my day, and I have my dodge ball because I feel very powerful.
More of Jenny Kanzler's work can be seen at www.jennykanzler.com.
Alex Cohen is a Bucks County painter. He exhibits at Riverbank Arts in Stockton, NJ. To view more essays and paintings visit www.themagpie.org
uwishunu
January, 31, 2008, Studioscopic interview, filmmaker: David S. Kessler
STUDIOSCOPIC: Jenny Kanzler from David S Kessler on Vimeo.
A-List: Infanticide Show
March 28, 2007, by Roberta Fallon for the Philadelphia Weekly
Jenny Kanzler: "Creepy Sweet"
Through April 7. free. 201 Gallery, 1400 N. American St., second fl. 215.236.2872. www.myspace.com/201gallery
Jenny Kanzler's painting of cherub-like dead babies falling from the sky and landing on a tacky old mattress might put you off. But if it doesn't, her purse full of bug carcasses probably will. The young Kanzler applies masterly technique and colors to her domestic-grotesque subject matter. Mattresses and bodies conjure up Vuillard on a bad LSD trip. Elsewhere, a girl's toothy eating of corn on the cob in front of what might be mom's open dresser drawer creates suffocating psychological angst a la Francis Bacon. The large, well-lit 201 Gallery in the Crane Building is a great new space in the city's hot Frankford art corridor.
The wonderfulness of too much good stuff
October 18, 2007, by Roberta Fallon for the artblog
LITTLE BERLIN � i cannot remember
Drawing by Jenny Kanzler from i cannot remember at Little Berlin
1801 Howard St. resident Alison Nastasi
curated this one at the new space Little Berlin (in 1801 Howard St).
Artists featured are three who met in the MFA program at PAFA: Theresa Rose, Jenny Kanzler and Mariya Dimov. "Their approach to filling the space as well as sensitivity to their
subject matter seems like a perfect match for little berlin," says the
press material.
...One show, 20 artists
January 15, 2010, by Victoria Donohoe for The Inquirer
Even with its limitations as a 20-person, 63-piece painting show that includes five artists new to Rodger La Pelle Galleries, "The Art Gang Is Here!" is filled with enjoyable encounters and re-encounters. "Realism" of various kinds reigns.
In the can't-miss-it category is Jenny Kanzler communicating viscerally in ways meant to disturb. Her work airs certain problems she has had with child day-care.
And a young Brit, David Febland, gets the sensuous feel of the marvelous experience of oil paint as he coolly satirizes a generation of pleasure-seeking "bounty hunters" just back from their latest luxury cruise.
Rodger La Pelle Galleries, 122 N Third, Phila. To Jan. 31. Wed-Sun noon-6. Free. 215-592-0232.
Daily Dish: Decadent feast, calorie-free
April 7, 2010, by Mary MacVean for the LA Times
A calorie-free sweets feast sounds enticing. Of course, you don't actually get to eat anything. But the "Sweet Show," opening Thursday downtown, might be the next best thing.
It features the work of four artists: Lori Larusso, Abbie Zuidema, Deborah Faas and Jenny Kanzler.
"Sweet Show" runs Thursday, April 9, through May 9 at Phyllis Stein Gallery, 207 West 5th St. in the Spring Arts Tower.
About the artists:
Lori Larusso explores themes of domesticity and consumption. Her views on consumer society are represented in her choice of color, composition and surface attention.
Jenny Kanzler's work conveys an ideal scenario of the dark and innocent connection between human attachment and comfort with foods.
Deborah Faas has been painting portraits since the early 1990s.
Abbie Zuidema explores desire, consumption and pleasure in her watercolors.
bio/resume:
Education
2005 MFA, Painting, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)
Philadelphia, PA
1997 BFA, Sculpture, College of Visual and Performing Art, Syracuse University,
Syracuse, NY
Awards/Honors
2009 Nomination: Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award
2007 Nomination: Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award
2005 PAFA Eagles and Angels Award
Nomination: Joan Mitchell Foundation Award
2004 Justine Cretella Memorial Scholarship
Nomination: Daedalus Foundation Award
Teaching
2012 Drawing for Junior Painting Majors, College of Art, Media and
Design (CAMD), the University of the Arts (UArts), Phila., PA
MFA Mentor, MFA Studio Program, CAMD, UArts
2011 MFA Mentor, MFA Studio Program, CAMD, UArts
Lecturer/Critic,MFA Studio Program, CAMD, UArts
2007 Drawing I, School of Design and Engineering, Philadelphia
University, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Visual Memory Workshop, the Creative Alliance at the Patterson,
Baltimore, MD
Presentations
2012 Visiting Artist Lecture: Generative Processes, Sculpture Program, UArts
2008 Art‐at‐Lunch: Stephanie Beck and Jenny Kanzler, PAFA Museum
First Person Arts Salon, segment of Studioscopic presentation by
David Kessler, The Gershman Y, Philadelphia, PA
2004 Art‐at‐Lunch: Jenny Kanzler, PAFA Museum
Non-Profit/Administrative Experience
’07-‘12 Executive Assitant to the President and Assistant Secretary to the Board
of Trustees, President’s Office, UArts
’06-’07 Program Assistant, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Baltimore, MD
’03-’06 Docent Coordinator, PAFA Museum, Philadelphia, PA
’01-’03 Executive Assitant to the President and Assistant Secretary to the Board
of Trustees, President’s Office, UArts
Solo Exhibitions
2012 I’m Sorry Mrs. Krauthamel (in progress), curator: Gavin Hecker,
PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA
So Inappropriate,Jenny Kanzler, President’s Office Exhibition Program,
curator: Kris Strawser, President’s Office, UArts
2008 It's Dark in There, curator: Katie Claiborne, Elliot Center Gallery,
University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
2007 Creepy Sweet, Kelly and Weber Fine Art/201 Gallery, curator: Greg
Kelly, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 Pictures of the Body, curator: Robert Cozzolino, PAFA Museum
Elephant’s Eye Studio Tour, Visiting Artist, Magpie Studio/Alex
Cohen, Bucks County, PA
I Love Mitch Hedburg, curator: Brianna Barton, PhilaMOCA,
Philadelphia, PA
Philamythos, curator: Alex Stanton, PhilaMOCA
On the Move,curator: Rodger LaPelle, Rodger LaPelle Galleries,
Philadelphia, PA
2010 Philadelphia Painters, curator: Matthew Farina, The Painting Center,
New York, NY
Mother May I, curator: Edward Waisnis, Window on Broad,
Rosenwald‐Wolf Gallery, UArts
Child's Play, curator: Nicole Buckingham, Institute of Art, Design
and Interactive Media, CCBC, Baltimore, MD
This is the Only Place that can Save My Heart, curator: Alex
Gartelmann, Little Berlin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Winter Invitational, curator: Rodger LaPelle, Rodger LaPelle
Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2009 The Sweet Show, curator: Cynthia Nibler, Four person show with Lori
Larusso, Deborah Faas, and Abbie J. Zuidema, Phyllis Stein Art, Los
Angeles, CA
Exquisite Corpse, 40th anniversary exhibition, curator: Anonda
Bell, Paul Robeson Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
It's Just Like I Never Stopped Being There, curator: Alex
Gartelmann, Four person show with Maggy Rozycki Hiltner, Bryan
Rice and Hope Rovelto, My House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
May Salon, curator: Rodger LaPelle, Rodger LaPelle Galleries,
Philadelphia, PA
2008 Seven Deadly Sins, curator: Julie Cavnor, Maryland Art Place,
Baltimore, MD
35th Annual Exhibition, Juror: Carole Robb, Masur Museum of
Art, Monroe, LA
Small and Unexpected, curator: Nora Litz, Midwives Collective
and Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
The Big Draw, curator/organizer: Alex Gartelmann, Collaborative
Project and Exhibition, My House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2007 i cannot remember, organizer/curator: Alison Nastasi, four
person show with Maria Dimov, Alison Nastasi, and Theresa Rose,
Little Berlin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Pull lever down, curator: Ed Waisnis, Window on Broad,
Rosenwald‐Wolf Gallery, UArts
Sugar Buzz, curator: Susan Hoeltzel with Nina Sundell, Lehman
College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY
2006 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2006, National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Press & Publications
2010 Catalogue: Philadelphia Painters (cover), The Painting Center, New York, NY
Catalogue: Child’s Play, Institute of Art, Media and Interactive Design,
CCBC
2009 Review: Decadent feast, calorie-free, Mary MacVean LA Times Daily Dish,April 7
Feature: Morphology issue, (Don't be) Spineless literary journal, issue 4
volume 1
Image: Edge Magazine, summer issue, UArts
2008 Film Interview: Studioscopic, documentary project on Philadelphia artists,
created by David S. Kessler, posted January 21 uwishunu
2007 Interview: Artist of the Week, What to Wear During an Orange Alert?,
cultural blog, October 1‐5
Review: the a‐list: Jenny Kanzler: Creepy Sweet, Review by Roberta
Fallon, Philadelphia Weekly, March 28‐April 3
Film Review: Look! It's Libby and Roberta, Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof
artblog review and podcast, Producer/Director: David S. Kessler, April
2006 Catalogue: The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2006, Smithsonian
National Portrait Gallery
Feature: New American Paintings, Mid Atlantic Edition, May/June
2005 Image: The Philadelphia Daily News, December 13
contact: jenny kanzler
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