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Jay Senetchko

Twilight of the Idols + zoom	Witness + zoom	Game 9 (study) + zoom	Game 9 (study) + zoom
Game 12 (study) + zoom	Game 12 (study) + zoom	French Steam + zoom	Study for French Steam I + zoom
Study for French Steam II + zoom

Artists Statement

I believe in: interesting ideas; compelling narratives; representing themes, beliefs and values; the importance of history; emotional impact; and excellence of execution. Pictures affect people by telling stories...it is important to tell them well, and to be saying something important.

Biography

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Jay Senetchko now lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia.

This University of Alberta graduate (1997 - Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction) spent several years as a professional soccer player in Edmonton and Montreal before pursuing entrepreneurial interests in Canada and the United States. In 2000 he moved to Vancouver and received a Diploma of Classical Animation from the Vancouver Film School in 2001. He also began painting at this time.

Primarily self-taught, his painting has been strongly influenced by apprenticeships with both Gideon Flitt and Odd Nerdrum. His work has exhibited since 2002 and shown throughout North America and Europe.

His side-ventures include the founding of Red Hand Design, a Vancouver design company (Conceptual Design for Streamy and Leo nominated Riese the Series); the development of a book on perspective and composition for the visual arts; and illustration and authoring a storybook.

He has been teaching life-drawing, perspective, composition, and art history at Vancouver Film School since 2002, and teaching painting privately since 2003. He also currently holds independent lectures on the arts in alternating locations throughout Vancouver.

Senetchko is also member of the figurative collective Phantoms in the Front Yard.

What is your artwork about (underlying concept, focus, themes, intent, etc)?

I currently have three major bodies of work underway and although I have resolved each to the extent that I am comfortable with what I have presented and explored in the finished paintings, the themes for each body are broad enough and of enough interest to me that I can foresee adding to each as time goes on.

The three bodies of work are: Still Life, Apologia, Systems

Still Life
These inanimate objects are symbolic monuments for moments of my experience. They are distillations of personal stories, conversations and things that I have read, seen, and heard and they are meant to act as metaphors for those events. Sometimes there is just one moment being symbolized, other times they are a conflation of events. Clues are present as to what their meaning might be via the title and the objects themselves but they require a story being constructed around them by the viewer in order to come to life.

These paintings may be enjoyed through their aesthetic alone: their solitude, simplicity, warmth and glow, and their straightforwardness. If enjoyed enough they may also entice the viewer to be curious as to the story and history of the presented objects; that is when these objects start to ‘speak’ and belie their simplicity. It is the depth of these objects in which their stillness acquires life.

I suppose the best way to develop a relationship with these paintings is to view them as a visual diary of some of my thoughts. I think relating to the desire to record thoughts is easy, and trying to ascertain what a person was attempting to say with their esoteric and subjective scribbling can be fun. That is what these paintings are meant to be: contemplative and enjoyable.

Apologia
Once upon a time, artists in the Western visual art tradition could draw their subject matter from a rich, relatively stable, and widely shared cache of mythological, religious and literary stories and figures. Alas, in a post-Christian, post-modern, post-historical art world, the challenge for painters now is to find something that might be recognizable – or at least- meaningful to an audience.

While referencing history in a contemporary work of art risks alienating viewers, my intention and hope is that my paintings will provoke an inquisitive response.

Apologia uses elements of iconic visual and literary works of art to invoke a contemplative “old-world” feel to them. Elements from various art historical moments, philosophies, periods and painters are combined to express a mood and idea about the past. Understanding the social context associated, this series represents a “defense” of a tradition that has inspired, outraged, bemused and most importantly nurtured me to create an unapologetic body of work challenging the negative connotations tied to classical aesthetics.

Systems
Systems is a developing body of work that I began in late 2009, drawing on my experience from the worlds of team sports (professional, university and semi-professional soccer) and business (Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta and entrepreneur).

The series is just as much about the process of creating final imagery as it is about the subject matter. My process begins by creating a sketch from my imagination and memory. I then piece together found images to further develop this initial image into a more refined drawing. Sometimes this sketch will itself become the basis for additional studies from a live model that will, in turn, be used to create a final painting.

The result is a series of works that may change very little or a great deal from their inception. This unpredictable process is intended to mimic and represent, in a painterly form, the variable nature of social systems like team sports and corporations.

What informs your artwork or what are your influences?

In general I have an interest in history, theory, literature, visual arts of all shapes and sizes including film, and most recently my past, educational, vocational and familial. As for my influences, two painters have most directly affected me: Gideon Flitt and Odd Nerdrum, both of whom I have had the opportunity to train with after a fashion and whom I also feel fortunate enough to call friends.

What matters to you most about the work that you do?

That I realize what I set out to capture intellectually, aesthetically and emotionally…not only for my sake but also for the viewer’s. Paintings, or art more generally, without concept are empty, without aesthetic seduction are less approachable, and without emotion are uninteresting. More generally: I wish to be a part of, continue, and expand upon the great works of the past…perhaps to have my paintings be my posterity. I romantically believe in the transformative power and timelessness of certain art and I wish to create work that can be categorized as such.

Do you feel you need to position your work within the context of art history and if so what's your take on that?

Anyone who takes art seriously or is at least engaged in it as a profession is of necessity engaged in a dialogue with the past; work that is created without awareness of that corpus of knowledge or context is either naïve, decorative or both.

Is there a trigger or a starting point for each piece?

There is…but what it is varies: it might be something I hear, see, have read, remember…and it generally comes upon me when I’m not looking for it. It may or may not develop into something. If it does develop it might evolve into something completely different by the time I have resolved a final painting from the original thought. Sometimes the original thought goes nowhere; sometimes it takes years to gestate; other times it is resolved into a final piece quite quickly. However, each individual idea is generally involved in an overall theme that I am systematically exploring. So, the theme is the ultimate starting point for each individual idea and the theme is dependent upon whatever is most pressing intellectually or emotionally in my life at the time.

How has your work evolved over the last five years?

It’s become more involved conceptually, more free in terms of application, deeper in terms of exploration, more personal and more mature. Importantly I think it’s also become more ‘me’, more enjoyable and, I think, better.

What is currently the central motivation for or conceptual concern in your work?

I’m still involved with Apologia and Systems, but more in a peripheral rather than a focused way.  I’m about to begin a body of work concentrating on industry and my family history that I intend to function allegorically for the relationship between family and industry more generally. My grandfather was a toolpush in the oil patch in Alberta in the 70’s and 80’s, so I’ll be using him, my grandmother, father and the oil and gas industry as a starting point.

How does your physical/geographical environment inform the work you do?

Very little I think.  I’m not really a descriptor of my immediate geographical environment…I’ve never been very interested in that.  My interests are more internal and, I suppose, ‘meta’ in a way. I look for underlying connections between things that I see, read, experience…anything that makes it’s way into a picture of mine that is an actual place is either for convenience or as a symbolic prop, but it is determined by the idea rather than the place determining the idea.

What mediums, techniques, or processes are involved in your art making (and why these)?

I predominantly focus on oil, although I do use a variety of dry media (charcoal and graphite mostly) as well as some mixed media collage. In the conceptual stage of development I do a fair amount of work in photoshop photo-colloguing initial images. I choose to work in these mediums ideologically to show that contemporary themes can be dealt with successfully and interestingly with classical mediums, but also because they appeal to me. I like the smell of oil and the feel of graphite. My process moves from an initial sketch from my imagination, to a photo-collogue from found images manipulated in photoshop, to a drawing done based on this collogue, to studies done from life based on the drawing, and then a final painting done both from the studies and from live models. This process helps me develop an understanding of what I am after in the work as well as developing depth and life to it in unpredictable ways as each stage brings about alterations and evolutions that could not come about in a preconceived manner.

What are your other passions in life and how have these influenced your work?

History, theory, literature, art, the outdoors (hiking and camping specifically), sports, friends, family, film.  Everything affects my work: there are no parts, only the whole

Why are you an artist?

When I ask my self the question: What is the best way I can think of to spend my time on this planet, not only for myself, but also as a contribution to others?  It’s the best answer I can come up with.  I’ve always wanted to, and I have to…there are things I want to say and do and this is the best way I can think of to say and do them.

Born Edmonton, AB, Canada, 1974
Lives and works in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Education

Solo Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

Charity Exhibitions (for the BC Cancer Foundation)

Teaching Experience, Panels