OUR KIND - J C CAMPBELL

Our KIND

Jul 27

Written By Tansy Haak

We have serious imagination envy when it comes to Jennifer C Campbell and her sculptural paintings. KIND caught up with the artist this week to talk about her work and influences. This weekend is your last chance to see Jenny's work exhibited in 'Miami Vice' at Transition Gallery (near Broadway Market). Open Friday 29th July and Saturday 30th July 12-6pm.

Describe your discipline/ My paintings are slithers of substance. Their crude structures provide a resistance to gravity. The works remain flat but physical and the exterior world infiltrates their territory. They use colour to prevent themselves from spilling into dispersion. As a group they map a restless persona, showing off and shape shifting.

What is your ultimate inspiration/ Drawing is always the starting point. To draw a thing is to absorb it and own it. The task is endless, like shopping. Each time i draw an object, i make a temporary bridge, between my self and my landscape. My paintings are drawings that have been bulked out. Paint is like stage make-up. Paint is gaudy icing on a bland cake.

What is your mantra/ Colour and line, colour and line, colour and line, redefine.

Describe your working environment/ I have all my drawings pinned up on the wall, so that i can keep my eye on them. And then one drawing finds its moment to jump out at me, it is temporarily THE ONE, the starting point for a transformation into a more physical and painterly existence. I have an array of materials to hand, as well as paints of difference colours and textures, mixed and stored in jam jars.

Which piece of jewellery can you not live without?/ I found a plastic tube bracelet in the park last week, it has rainbow fluid and glitter inside of it, it is my current gem of choice.

What is the most thought provoking thing your saw/heard/read in the last week/ I am currently reading 'The Edible Woman' By Margaret Atwood, it is excellent.

What song(s) are you listening to on repeat at the moment/ I have been humming invented tunes, made up of fragments of well known pop songs, whilst cycling around London.