Susquehanna Art Museum
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
susquehannaartmuseum.org
Through June 19, 2022
Like the rest of us, the New York City artist Diana Jensen has not enjoyed the pandemic, but at least she has produced an intriguing body of work during this challenging period.
She explains, “After a few feverish nights with the COVID-19 virus, an idea came to me. A few years ago, a friend gave me 27 boxes of slides found in an Asbury Park [New Jersey] thrift store. These images document one person’s world travels. I felt this was the time to immerse myself — painting images of far-flung adventures as I sheltered at home. My series is an homage to the exhaustive slide collection and the adventures of one individual, but also a somber reflection of our collective loss of freedom during the pandemic.”
As Jensen created her series of “Where I wish I could travel” paintings, it was not her intention to duplicate the slides, but rather to visually interpret what these scenes meant to the original owner.
She notes, “Seeking the truth of the past, not simply historical record, I look for hidden expressions of intimacy and human interactions among the figures in the photographs.”
The resulting works were made on Mylar using the technique of reverse painting, and they vary widely in size. The Susquehanna Art Museum will display Jensen’s installation of them for a two-month period, hopefully inspiring visitors to start planning their own travel adventures.
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What is reverse painting?