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Artist Jennifer Day’s paintings are strikingly different--ethereal, spectral works that evoke feelings of puzzlement and unease. Employing a monochromatic palette of black, white and grey, Day plumbs the depths and mysteries of naturally appearing phenomena, from the contrast of a heavily wooded forest against a vast backdrop of sky to the haunting shadows created by the play of light over a tree or building. The resulting images are wistful and dreamlike. “I am drawn toward situations that are bizarre or obscured by darkness,” confesses Day. “Strangely, I love days that are cold, grey and colorless, stripped of surface decoration. Things that are shadowed, gone-by, and in ruins intrigue me—somehow I think that there’s more substance there. I don’t want my paintings to be comfortable, for me or the viewer,” she continues. “My aim is to enter into visual situations that are unfamiliar and beyond my understanding. My painting allows me to travel someplace that I haven’t been.”
In gathering inspiration for her works, Day draws heavily from the world around her. A habitual walker, Day carries a camera with her and snaps photos at will. She also pulls advertisements from magazines constantly, thereby amassing great piles of visual fodder. She draws on these collections when beginning a piece, and then gradually abandons them as the painting develops. “Knowing where to respect information and where to let the painting do its own thing is an on-going learning process,” observes Day. “I never want to know how something has come to be. It has to be beyond me."
A native of Boston, Day earned her B.A. in studio and art history at Bowdoin College. She furthered her studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and earned an M.F.A. in painting from the University of Pennsylvania, studying under Neil Welliver.
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