Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Krantz.
Jessica, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Sure! My passion for creation was an overwhelming obsession from a young age. I’m a self-taught artist essentially, with a degree in Graphic Design and Engineering. In my formative years, however, I explored mixed media on my grandmother’s kitchen table. In 2009, while living in Cabo Mexico, I began an apprenticeship with painter Francisco Nova. He invited me to start showing my work while working alongside him at local art festivals and hotels.
It was during this time that my profound love for “Dia de Los Muertos” began to take hold and my artist mind was once again inspired. I started out painting and illustrating skulls in Francisco’s studio, as a cultural curiosity. The more Francisco told me about Dia de Los Muertos, the more I painted it.
Eventually, I had an upwards of 30 paintings laying around his studio. Francisco noticed and one afternoon sold several of them while I was away running his errands. When I came back, I was pretty shocked! Not because he sold them, (although that was quite shocking), but because someone actually wanted them. That was a very powerful and meaningful moment for me. It was the start of my creative fuel.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’d like to believe that I create works with charming hand-drawn quality that are full of painterly textures, pencil shadings, and restricted color pallets. My artwork is deeply inspired by the subconscious-dreamlike states of being, and I like to describe it as having profundity, that invites open interpretation. It is also my belief that everyone comes to art from their own life experiences and what speaks to each individual can be completely different and completely true for each simultaneously.
With art, we grapple together with life’s most vital issues. We grapple with what the piece of art we are experiencing means, and at the same time, often without even noticing it, we grapple with what our own piece of art – our life means. When we dig deep like that, which art invites us to do, implores us to do, we return to the very attributes that make us human and inextricably links us at the seems. Novelist, Frank Kafka said, “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” The same, I believe, can be said of art and I hope mine does just that.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
It is clear to me that artists have many different roles, but no matter what medium we use or what style we explore, we all share the same purpose – to create art: art that is beautiful, art that is political, art that is accessible, art that challenges, art that is expressive, art that is cryptic. You could say that the role of the artists is in part to describe life, but also to illuminate and shed light on aspects that may otherwise be missed.
Artists have an advantage over other practices; we can innovate and explore with an open mind. We have no fixed boundaries. We can imagine other perspectives and bring beauty to the world. This positive energy that art brings, sparkes hope and triggers changes in society. Because of this, artists need to be part of the discourse locally and internally – for social change. In fact, in many societies, the role of art has long been assumed but the specifics not so clearly chartered. Artists create work stimulated by their environment, yet we often exist on the edge of that social environment. Living in a world where there is a high rate of literacy.
Written language has a very dominating force over the expression of ideas. We become perhaps at times committed to words which may not reflect our own ideas. What is seen in writing is often seen as fixed and true? Writing is used to express ideas and emotions. Art, however, is more adaptable to the real emotions of people. More fluid. It is a critical way of expressing an opinion without having to lay out a rational argument. The emotions that art evokes needs no microphone. It is of the soul, as it should be.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
If’ you’d like to purchase my art, keep up with my latest illustrations, paintings, art shows, and occasional furniture designs visit my Instagram @jk.artz I also show regularly at La Bodega Gallery in Barrio Logan, San Diego and at Alexi Era Gallery in Eugene, Oregon. My next show at La Bodega is January 12th, 2019 for their “5 Year Skateboard Anniversary Show” and at Alexi Era Gallery for their “Epeolatry Exhibition” December 7th, 2018.
I also have a six-month rotating installation “The Palace of Illusions” that is currently on display at Fibre Salon in University Heights – 4521 Park Blvd, San Diego. This installation will regularly be changing and pays tribute to women who inspire create and continue to strive for a better universe – whoever they are!
And please, if you’re not in a position to purchase, share my work! ALL OVER! It’s amazing what word of mouth still does for our industry, and if you can’t afford my work right now that’s ok, but the next best thing you can do is SHARE, SHARE, SHARE. Your comments, likes, and shares all help support me and directly impact my life. It’s what allows me to keep doing what I love!
Contact Info:
- Email: Krantzmt@gmail.com
- Instagram: @jk.artz
Image Credit:
Jessica Krantz.
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
