Contemporary Art in the Louisville Area: Jennifer Palmer Mapping Loss Art exhibition Review

Mapping Loss

For this review, I chose to talk about the exhibition at the Barr Gallery located at Indiana University Southeast. The exhibition going on right now is called Mapping Loss by Jennifer Palmer who is a multi- media artist and also works as an art teacher at the University. She used a variety of mixed media to develop the images varying from pen, ink, coffee stain, wine, charcoal, paint etc. In reading her artist statement she was clear on the points that she wanted to portray in each piece in this gallery. Through making this exhibition she wanted to create maps of thought that are about finding Zen and balance after the loss of her mother who was battling cancer. Her piece, therefore are helping her find the positive in the negative situation she’s in, and also, in turn helping her cope with death in a healthy way. Throughout her exhibition she had multiple works from tiny pieces on different structures of paper to large pieces that were constructed with polyethylene which is hard plastic; to large paper ink pieces (refer to images1, 2, 3 and 6.). Each particular piece was different in ways varying from the time it was made, what material it was made on, and what medium was used. My favorite two artworks in this exhibition were called Woven into Time I (image 4) and Woven Into Time II (Image 5). In these two pieces, she used a thick paper and did a series of staining through ink and coffee creating abstract patterns throughout each work creating a distorted image of abstract lines and stains. They also contained a series of ink dots and pen black lines that lined around the outer edge of each stain in the two different pieces. The calmness of these images is also displayed through the cool tones of blues and teals used along with the tans and browns of the coffee. After speaking to the artist herself I actually found out that each dot or scratch line that is shown on these or any of the other pieces in the exhibition she made whenever she was thinking about her mother or having depressed emotions because of the loss. Through this process, she was able to calm herself and slowly overcome her sadness. Another piece that I really admired in her exhibition is called Mapping above (image 1) which was created on the polythene plastic. In these piece/pieces instead of ink and stain, she used acrylic paint and had it drip down the sides of each of circle of plastic. She used a stark black background and then contrasted it with the use of warm tones of yellows and reds and cool tones of blues and greens. These particular pieces were very galaxy like to me, making me think of someone who is not in their right state of mind or just not thinking straight. his exhibition was very successful from my standpoint because; she had a very strong emotional subject matter that is very relatable, and she was able to express herself through different hand strokes of media, making a variety of map like abstract pieces. She also did a great job using a variety of materials we use every day such as coffee and red wine (images 4, 5 and 6) which helps relate back to how personal each piece was. Reflecting back most abstract pieces are very hard to give and show a storyline. Jennifer did a great job of displaying her emotions through her use of each piece but also by making the reader feel the sadness and depression she was going through. In order to achieve she had a strong artist statement to give you the history behind the series helping the viewer relate back to her time of sorrow and view when and why she developed each piece. The quality of each piece is very well done also. In order to layer inks and liquids you must let them dry out, causing a long consuming process along with the use of the ink and pen to achieve thousands of dots. Overall this exhibition was highly intriguing and successful, well thought-out and emotionally evoking. Highly recommend viewing this series and personally would like to see more of her exhibitions.