Jessica Kirkpatrick

Artist’s Statement:

"As an artist I intend to empathize with people and the world through the visual mode. I use art as a reflective tool to understanding my self and the environment I inhabit. I feel that style and meaning is inextricable to form and composition; in that way, I focus on an object rather than a subject—my subjective view, immersed in care for the things and people I intersect--is a given as I strive to align my mind with the universal. I focus on structure more than appearance, under the belief that visual pleasure arises out of a methodical searching. Painting is a two directional relationship, where a piece tells me as many secrets as I tell it. A canvas confronts me with my fears, false impressions, and resistance to broadening my sensibilities. I take an awkward stroke personally; it is my awkward mood. An ugly color is my ugly emotion. An image is born of my struggling ego, and if I struck any note of truth, it exists independent of me upon completion. I feel that art worthy of attention has a strong theoretical basis. However, that bases can be purely aesthetical rather than political or social. I hope to incorporate a stronger conceptual basis to my figurative work. I am fascinated by the meaning of beauty, and seek to exemplify it in my work—not by attaining it as a goal, but by using it’s principle of order and grace within my process—for me beauty is not a triumph, it is an aura exuded beyond of the artists intention. The artist’s job is to cognate and fuse dualities into a unified image. For me, this type of work externalizes my disunity, thereby extricating neurosis and elevating my awareness."

www.kirkpatrickpaintings.com