MOM! There are dead birds in the freezer...again!

Check out this great interview with trompe l'oeil artist Jhenna Quinn Lewis (who is brand new to Lovetts Gallery), produced by Oregon Art Beat in 2010.  And yes, there are dead birds in the freezer...

 

Contemporary realist, trompe l'oeil, and wildlife painter Jhenna Quinn Lewis:  "I was born with a love and appreciation for art and nature, or maybe a better word to describe this feeling is awe. Art is a universal language that can teach us about ourselves and our world. It is a part of all our lives and surrounds us even if we don't notice or understand it.

 

I have created art through images on canvas since I was in kindergarten. My need has been to foster an understanding of nature that is reflective, which suggests the presence of some unacknowledged mystery or spiritual force. A painting is a moment held in time. I strive to capture something in that moment and give it life.

 

For me, paintings have a meditative quality. Through the manipulation of composition, subject matter, color, light, and shadow, I try to bring out a subtle inherent quietness that the viewer can be drawn into. My hope is to create a state of mind that unites the real and the imagined.

 

I endeavor to capture the everyday items and scenes that are a part of our lives, but that we lightly pass over, take for granted, or completely ignore. For example, I use the play of light across a pear or flower in such a way that the observer's senses will remember the image and perhaps delight in seeing an ordinary piece of fruit or a plant in a new way when next they see it. To deepen the viewing experience, I may drape a cloth across the table with a ray of translucent light creating an inner glow to the painting.

 

Finally, the darkness and shadows can beckon us to experience the parts of ourselves that we mask or hide.

 

For me, there is an unacknowledged beauty in all things: in the light, in the dark and in the shadows. We need to bring forth and honor this beauty. Through experiencing the beauty of our ordinary life we are able to create solitude, a mutual solitude." - Jhenna Quinn Lewis

 

 

Oregon trompe l'oeil artist Jhenna Quinn Lewis is represented by Tulsa, Oklahoma Art Gallery Lovetts Gallery.