Biography
JEFF FERST ART STATEMENT
I have a keen interest in the Senoran desert and in nature in general. My work draws on the essence of traditional landscape painting, an encounter with nature, and combines it with my emotional reactions. The result is physical reality and feelings intertwined. Some of my work is more recognizable as landscapes, while others follow a different path and become deconstructed landscapes.
My working process is a direct one, usually with no preliminary drawing. After the initial choice of a painting’s base color and structure applied by brush, the shapes change as each hue is applied using a palette knife and other tools. A canvas will develop as a spontaneous, free-flowing conversation between me and the painting, with the completed work the result of a very organic process.
A canvas may reflect both my memories of locations I have visited and recorded and my emotions on the day that it is painted. There is a strong subconscious element to this work, with an image taking on a life of its own. These paintings are personal, expressive and musical, with their tactile use of oil paint applied with a brush, palette knife, and other tools utilizing a vibrant palette. They are textural and tactile.
Viewers are encouraged to make their own connection to the work, and to interpret it for themselves based on their own experiences and emotions. They are invited to resonate with the paintings’ positive energy and to see something recognizable to themselves there.
