Jennifer Roberts is compelled by the dance between perfection and chaos; the blurring of boundaries between self and other, individual and divine. Her mixed media work is both organic and otherworldly, inviting viewers to experience the delicious tension between control and spontaneity.
Jennifer draws inspiration from sacred geometry, especially the hexagon, honored in her Geometric series. She began compulsively painting hexagons after a breakup from an abusive relationship, and then she started seeing them everywhere: honeycombs, organic chemistry, a storm on Saturn's North Pole. For her as an artist, the hexagon is a sign of Divine presence and a symbol of how chaos is built on a scaffolding of divine perfection.
Her Microbial series contrasts this small micro-universe of scale with the perfection of the hexagon as a parallel to the chaos we all experience in our individual lives. The hexagon’s ethereal serenity coexists in creative tension with florid, teeming, turbid, chaotic life. The bodies of all living beings are packed with cells operating in coordination as they receive and transmit information. In asking what is the consciousness of a microbe, and what is the innate force thrumming within each of us, she finds that even seemingly chaotic creatures beyond our ability to communicate can be charged with Divine intelligence.
Jennifer often begins with washes of color, sometimes directing it with brushes, pipettes, and spray bottles, other times letting it flow naturally. The result is a dynamic expression of media that remains tantalizingly beyond complete conscious control. Her mixed media works often incorporate paper collage, watercolors, acrylics, aerosols, sumi ink, markers, and the use of erosive techniques like sanding and rust.
Jennifer’s forthcoming series, Raw, explores her new experience as a parent. Motherhood is often idolized and romanticized, but behind the facade lies a complex range of feelings that are frequently dismissed. Mothers are expected to do it all, to have it all, and to look fabulous while doing so; to not be overly concerned with their bodies or connected to their pleasure, but to have boundless sexual desire for their partners (while not being sluts) while being constantly overworked and overburdened. This series elevates the often stigmatized emotions that mothers feel.
Jennifer draws inspiration from sacred geometry, especially the hexagon, honored in her Geometric series. She began compulsively painting hexagons after a breakup from an abusive relationship, and then she started seeing them everywhere: honeycombs, organic chemistry, a storm on Saturn's North Pole. For her as an artist, the hexagon is a sign of Divine presence and a symbol of how chaos is built on a scaffolding of divine perfection.
Her Microbial series contrasts this small micro-universe of scale with the perfection of the hexagon as a parallel to the chaos we all experience in our individual lives. The hexagon’s ethereal serenity coexists in creative tension with florid, teeming, turbid, chaotic life. The bodies of all living beings are packed with cells operating in coordination as they receive and transmit information. In asking what is the consciousness of a microbe, and what is the innate force thrumming within each of us, she finds that even seemingly chaotic creatures beyond our ability to communicate can be charged with Divine intelligence.
Jennifer often begins with washes of color, sometimes directing it with brushes, pipettes, and spray bottles, other times letting it flow naturally. The result is a dynamic expression of media that remains tantalizingly beyond complete conscious control. Her mixed media works often incorporate paper collage, watercolors, acrylics, aerosols, sumi ink, markers, and the use of erosive techniques like sanding and rust.
Jennifer’s forthcoming series, Raw, explores her new experience as a parent. Motherhood is often idolized and romanticized, but behind the facade lies a complex range of feelings that are frequently dismissed. Mothers are expected to do it all, to have it all, and to look fabulous while doing so; to not be overly concerned with their bodies or connected to their pleasure, but to have boundless sexual desire for their partners (while not being sluts) while being constantly overworked and overburdened. This series elevates the often stigmatized emotions that mothers feel.
