Australian magazine Art Edit feature about my work. Please see link Art Edit
“Working from observation, the presence of light and
shade feels inevitable,” says Cornwall-based painter
Jess Allen. “I like this visual game of presence and
absence.”
Composing pared-back interior scenes featuring
tableaus of silhouettes and shadow, the artist seeks
to capture a moment in time without resorting to a
conspicuous or distinct narrative. Natural light falls
from above onto familiar domestic scenes, where
closely cropped views of couches and stacks of books
are overlayed with shadow figures – indeterminate and
unnamed portraits that stand just out of view.
Allen does not name these figures, instead hoping
that the audience can impute their own experiences
and desires on their indistinct forms. By using the
interplay of light and shade, the artist elevates her
subjects to an archetype or allegory, to be understood
by her audience using their personal experiences.
Her true subject then is not any one person, but
time itself, defined by the angle of the sun and the tilt
of the earth’s axis. It is defined by omission, the length
and distortion of shadows defining a particular instant
which the artist has carefully and attentively recorded
using her striking, muted style.
Allen’s paintings are quietly compelling, their
composition making them feel intimate. By placing
light and shade at the centre of her practice, and
elevating the consideration of shadows to become the
fundamental element of her works, Allen has beautifully
personalised the universal experience of time.