Throughout my work, I portray and project myself onto the animal as a
means to explore the damaged psyche while also honoring actual gestures
and experiences of the animal. The animal is rendered in isolation, so
as to focus inward on absence of connections and unfulfilled desires. I
attempt to give an intangible force a voice through a subject that is
essentially unable to speak for itself. I want both conversations, about
the human condition and the animal condition. The approximated
representations create relatability between the work and the viewer, and
the work and myself that is necessary. The animals remain essentially
true to form and gesture, not exaggerated or intentionally
anthropomorphized.
My tortured process is informed by human emotion, by loneliness, desire and obsession. These emotions are translated in the neurosis of my process. The obsessive mark making, or means of rendering the animal form, mimics the fur while also being emblematic of the depth and complexity of the animal and it’s emotive form. It also becomes emblematic of the complexity of human emotions. The lack of environment is a suggestion toward a mentally and psychologically charged space; a space that alludes to existentialist views on the human condition such as lack, loss, disconnect, and uncertainty. This space allows a connection on an emotional human level by depicting the animals out of their original context into a negative space that becomes introspective and internal. The psychological implications of this space are both discomforting and familiar; there is at once both a presence and an absence.
The intimacy and empathetic nature of my process speaks to my fidelity towards the animal as emotive and autonomous as much as my fidelity towards the expression of my emotions of my personal experiences speaks to the pains of the human condition. It is in this duality that there is room to think about psychological and social issues concerning both the human and the animal.
My tortured process is informed by human emotion, by loneliness, desire and obsession. These emotions are translated in the neurosis of my process. The obsessive mark making, or means of rendering the animal form, mimics the fur while also being emblematic of the depth and complexity of the animal and it’s emotive form. It also becomes emblematic of the complexity of human emotions. The lack of environment is a suggestion toward a mentally and psychologically charged space; a space that alludes to existentialist views on the human condition such as lack, loss, disconnect, and uncertainty. This space allows a connection on an emotional human level by depicting the animals out of their original context into a negative space that becomes introspective and internal. The psychological implications of this space are both discomforting and familiar; there is at once both a presence and an absence.
The intimacy and empathetic nature of my process speaks to my fidelity towards the animal as emotive and autonomous as much as my fidelity towards the expression of my emotions of my personal experiences speaks to the pains of the human condition. It is in this duality that there is room to think about psychological and social issues concerning both the human and the animal.
JenMarie Zeleznak
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