JORDANA HENRY
CATALOGUE / JORDANA HENRY ‘Tones and Totems’ solo exhibition.
15:07:23 - 05:08:23
ARTIST STATEMENT / ‘Tones and Totems’ solo exhibition.
“ A work of art is a confession”
Albert Camus
If one is to believe Camus then Jordana Henry’s canvas’ are her personal diaries.
Abstracted paintings full of sensuality, suggestive shapes, intense colour, visceral and mysterious. Henry’s paintings are symbolic narratives, a different kind of self portrait, carefully hidden meanings of the complexities of the artists’ past, present and future.
Large vessel like wombs are a recurring theme, shapes seem to pulsate, gestating figures with halos emerge and take centre stage. We see the artist returning to earlier work, strengthening her symbolic language, creating her own personal cosmology that speaks of, the beginnings of life, incubating, spawning, elemental and silent, reminiscent of all creation myths.
The paintings are poetically simple, presenting as an analogous Haiku, revealing a limited structural image. Henry’s purposely ambiguous figures are inviting the viewer to explore viscerally the unexplainable, evocating a monastic simplicity where (we) witness an almost reverential ritual translating into paintings of visual poetry.
The size of the works reflects the immensity and power of their central totems - spacial placement and colour are the major characters. The artists use of oils is as much a part of the work as the symbolic subjects. Days and weeks of painting and repainting, slowly layering the colour, laboriously and carefully coating the canvas. The act of painting became a psychological, physical and philosophical practice. The patience in which the artist had to fully submit to, the distant perspective that was required to stay present in order for the technical art of painting oils required for the colour to stay true and not become a muddy mess, the strength needed for the body to meet the canvas continuously for months. The act of painting another confession.
What is the artist confessing? Deep feelings of being a woman - transformation, transmutation, strength, mystery and poetry. Am I a saint or sinner? am I seductive or productive? I am all of this and more. This body of work sees the artist delicately navigating the complexities of womanhood, laying bare her secret confessions without divulging a single fact. Henry’s power is in the suggestion and mystery of these opaque totems.
Written by - Anna-Karina Elias
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY / JORDANA HENRY
After finishing a printmaking major at art school in Lismore in 2012. Jordana now works and lives in the elemental north east coast of NSW (Byron Bay). Jordana’s works naturally take on the form of abstraction as she uses predominantly oils to create marks that best explore notions of landscape, shape, figure, emotion and colour.
She has exhibited in both solo and group capacities in galleries throughout Australia.
HAKE SOLO EXHIBITION
Jordana Henry’s first solo exhibition opened with HAKE is this July 2023. Please find a link to view Henry’s body of work ‘Tones and Totems’ and for any enquiries, please reach out below.
