Jen Ray
18 Nov - 30 Dec 2005
JEN RAY
Evidence of Adventure
November 19 – December 30, 2005
Beginning on November 18, 2005, Galerie Jan Wentrup will host an exhibition showing the work of the American artist Jen Ray, her first individual show in Germany.
Born in 1970 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Jen Ray studied at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina from 1991 to 1995. Jen Ray work has been shown in many exhibitions in the United States. At the moment, her work can be seen at The Felicity R. "Bebe" Benoliel Gallery, in Philadelphia. In January 2006, she will participate in the group show “Through the Looking Glass” at Zurich’s Galerie Bob van Orsouw.
Jen Ray lives and works in New York and Berlin.
Central to Jen Ray’s work are drawings where amazon-like women rule a phantasmatic world, figures moving across utopian landscapes and magic spaces. But manic obsessions and wanton perversion lurk behind this pretty surface of girlish innocence. Her drawings are defined by decadence as an extreme form of romanticism, just as well as a Baroque balance between the love of life and vanitas.
Jay Ray’s work refers to Guy Bordin’s fashion photography, which is characterized by eroticism, sex, and fantasies of violence. References to Rudolf Schlichter’s psychosexual drawings and Guido Crepax’ glamorous Justine comics can also be found. Often, the opulent, detail-obsessed works on paper, executed with a delicate use of line, are reminiscent of the glam-rock aesthetics of the 1970s. Insignia such as dressing up and masquerade, sexual transparency and transgression are of particular importance.
© Jen Ray
"Untitled (Cake & Lion)"
drawing, 2005, 76.3 x 57 cm
Evidence of Adventure
November 19 – December 30, 2005
Beginning on November 18, 2005, Galerie Jan Wentrup will host an exhibition showing the work of the American artist Jen Ray, her first individual show in Germany.
Born in 1970 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Jen Ray studied at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina from 1991 to 1995. Jen Ray work has been shown in many exhibitions in the United States. At the moment, her work can be seen at The Felicity R. "Bebe" Benoliel Gallery, in Philadelphia. In January 2006, she will participate in the group show “Through the Looking Glass” at Zurich’s Galerie Bob van Orsouw.
Jen Ray lives and works in New York and Berlin.
Central to Jen Ray’s work are drawings where amazon-like women rule a phantasmatic world, figures moving across utopian landscapes and magic spaces. But manic obsessions and wanton perversion lurk behind this pretty surface of girlish innocence. Her drawings are defined by decadence as an extreme form of romanticism, just as well as a Baroque balance between the love of life and vanitas.
Jay Ray’s work refers to Guy Bordin’s fashion photography, which is characterized by eroticism, sex, and fantasies of violence. References to Rudolf Schlichter’s psychosexual drawings and Guido Crepax’ glamorous Justine comics can also be found. Often, the opulent, detail-obsessed works on paper, executed with a delicate use of line, are reminiscent of the glam-rock aesthetics of the 1970s. Insignia such as dressing up and masquerade, sexual transparency and transgression are of particular importance.
© Jen Ray
"Untitled (Cake & Lion)"
drawing, 2005, 76.3 x 57 cm