Artist Statement

Working in my studio I am a cave painter, connected to prehistoric artists who took to sacred walls to express what they saw around them and what was important to them. My studio is my cave - a space of safety, creation, and magic. With my tools I channel a stream of consciousness and access primal inclinations to create dreamlike and ambiguous spaces where there are no clear delineations between safety, pleasure, and hostility. Some of the figures that emerge are my lost muse, the echo of another self, or creatures from childhood folktales. Color is personal, taking inspiration from the fauvists who eschewed realism for the emotional. It is often applied with pleasure to later be removed and reworked in a struggle to find its purpose. 

In my paintings I move between areas with pencil line work, impasto, glazes of light, scratching, and broad areas of color in earthly ochres and cool ultramarines. Combining paint application methods as well as materials - crayons, colored pencils, flashe, collage, acrylic - allows me to work intuitively while creating zones of color that move in and out of space and time. The tension between intuition and intention is echoed in the subject matter, as hierarchies between plants, animals, humans, and the cosmos blur. As I obscure, wipe away, and layer, the work develops a rich surface and becomes imbued with history.

When making trace monotypes, quick marks allow me to channel a stream of consciousness onto the surface. The random effects of the technique enliven the paper, giving nuance and mystery to direct black and white images. 

Desire fuels my art. It is both what and why I create. In my paintings there is desire for connection to others, lustful explorations of the body and obsessive longing. There is also a desire for connection to the natural world, a search for a bond between plants, animals, humans, and the cosmos that has been lost over millennia in most parts of the world. And desire is also why I paint, it is my need for freedom, to express my inner world freely and shape a life of art.

About

Anna Jekel is an artist living in New York City. From Newton, MA, she grew up in a creative household where she was frequently drawing, crafting, taking photographs, and playing dress up. She graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in Theatre Production. After graduation, Anna held various positions as a costume designer, but started painting during pandemic lockdown. She has dedicated herself entirely to painting and currently maintains a studio practice in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Recently she completed residencies at the School of Visual Arts and Field Projects Gallery and had a solo exhibition, also at Field Projects Gallery, entitled Untamed/Untold. Her work reflects her struggle with depression and explores gender, sexuality, and love as well as human connection to the natural world.