Jane Dell
AFA: With about 100 exhibitions, numerous publications, and permanent collections, what has driven you towards your success and what attracts the demand for your art?
Jane Dell: I strive for originality, heartfelt topics and a daring to let my imagination take me to unknown places. The intensity of colors, form and movement, I believe, in each work attracts the demand for my art, as well. Collectors and gallerists have told me that my work goes beyond any current trend and every time the viewer looks, there’s some hidden image not seen before.
AFA: Tim Kane of Albany publication wrote of your work as "opulent, seductive and vacant. Its reserved demeanor more than merely suggest things aren't quite right, but it doesn't yell, or throw a tantrum". Would you like to explain this observation of passive awkwardness?
Jane Dell: Tim Kane’s review from the Albany Times was comparing my work to the other artist in the exhibition. My imagery is subtle and painterly, but if the viewer observes carefully and gives it some time, there’s an underlying tension and disturbance that isn’t apparent at first, a hidden narrative that develops with time.
AFA: How did you come up with this idea of using smoke, liquid, and jagged forms combined with quirky imagery?
Jane Dell: It was less of an idea than a process culminated from many years of painting and using various mediums such as oils, watercolor ink, flashe paint and surfaces such as Mylar, fabric, canvas, linen, gesso boards, and 300 lb cold press paper.
AFA: With such mastery of color, what are your thoughts on how you use your palette?
Jane Dell: Truthfully, my color palette has become instinctual. At times, I set out with a limited color scheme and then the work takes on a life of it own. I combine neutrals with their hues and colors that provoke the thought and feel of nature. The acrylic gels and varnishes I use are added to the acrylic paints to create a layered and deep atmosphere that sometimes contrast with opaque areas.
AFA: Your art seems to have a life of its own. If your art was a collective person, what would they say?
Jane Dell: There seems to be less and less control of our environment and politics in America today. We’ve lost closeness to nature created by western society, urbanization and globalization. My work wants to tell the viewer that we have to actively share the world of nature and animals with humanity or else we will all perish.
AFA: Could you explain the symbolism in your work? The iconography feels like hypothetical contemporary Byzantine art, not in its appearance but rather in its relevance.
Jane Dell: Some of the symbolism in my work expresses the chaos in which humans have created in our environment and the decline of many species of animals around the world. This theme may be hidden in the work but reveals itself with further investigation. To keep informed and inspired, almost every week, there are articles in the NY Times Science Section to read about these topics.
