Thank you Andre Gallant and Online Athens
Jennifer Hartley paints the townies in Ciné show
The houses that back-line Jennifer Hartley’s paintings are domiciles,
probably rentals, that you’ve passed by many times. You’ve walked your
dog past a typical brick Newtown two-bedroom, one-story home with iron
brackets holding up a shame of a porch. You’ve shuffled toward a
Boulevard house party and missed the aqua green clapboard siding
squirrel nest set back off the sidewalk by a few yards.
Imagine Jennifer Hartley like a photographer who watched you on these simple, daily journeys. You saw her pointing her lens at you, and maybe you lifted your eyes for a second to catch her but remained focused on your stroll.
Hartley’s paintings are reminiscent of an Athens that may or may not be anymore: a demure slackerdom of loose jeans, unkempt hair and unmowed lawns that’s been either cordoned or run off by development and time.
Paintings the artist made available before the opening of her new Ciné show depict a sweet, personal side of Hartley’s obviously in-town neighborhood. Townies you may recognize — if townies are your thing — walk their dogs through streets near downtown Athens. Weather and season are evident in her paintings, and their warmth or coolness urges the viewer to cuddle up or cool off.
Her animals are spot-on, as are the humans except for the faces. There, you find a sometimes comical, slightly sad or kind of pumped expressions, or surprise.
Check out her past work at www.jenniferhartley.com, and you’ll notice that her new paintings on display now venture toward heavier realism than before. Some of the early subjects’ framing evoked magical realism, but these new paintings come off like glimpses of daydreams, foggy around the edges but ultimately familiar.
— André Gallant, Staff
Imagine Jennifer Hartley like a photographer who watched you on these simple, daily journeys. You saw her pointing her lens at you, and maybe you lifted your eyes for a second to catch her but remained focused on your stroll.
Hartley’s paintings are reminiscent of an Athens that may or may not be anymore: a demure slackerdom of loose jeans, unkempt hair and unmowed lawns that’s been either cordoned or run off by development and time.
Paintings the artist made available before the opening of her new Ciné show depict a sweet, personal side of Hartley’s obviously in-town neighborhood. Townies you may recognize — if townies are your thing — walk their dogs through streets near downtown Athens. Weather and season are evident in her paintings, and their warmth or coolness urges the viewer to cuddle up or cool off.
Her animals are spot-on, as are the humans except for the faces. There, you find a sometimes comical, slightly sad or kind of pumped expressions, or surprise.
Check out her past work at www.jenniferhartley.com, and you’ll notice that her new paintings on display now venture toward heavier realism than before. Some of the early subjects’ framing evoked magical realism, but these new paintings come off like glimpses of daydreams, foggy around the edges but ultimately familiar.
— André Gallant, Staff
http://onlineathens.com/visual-art/2013-02-27/jennifer-hartley-paints-townies-cine-show
I just found a link to this radio interview that was conducted at the same time as this exhibit. Check it out: http://sidewalkradio.com/episodes/single/55
