ARTIST STATEMENT
Although the imagery in my paintings, like dreams, rely heavily on visions spontaneously arising from the unconscious, those images are often triggered by specific sociopolitical undercurrents of the times. While the wars, traumas, and moral dilemmas triggering the images may be specific to the moment, I seek to convey and explore the more universal psychological reality active within the specifics of this time and this place. The imagery that drives my painting process seems to arise from an insistence on highlighting some human or cultural predicament in need of greater empathy or integration into our conscious awareness. Human faces are often the vehicle I use to engage the viewer’s empathy and interest. What constitutes a successful painting for me is the activation of empathy rather than polarization.
Those Who Survived expressed the reality that war trauma does not end with a declared end to a war. Such traumas continue to haunt and affect the future. The more empathy can be brought to awareness, the better the chances of healing those traumas rather than merely replaying them generation after generation.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jane Zich is a San Francisco Bay Area artist whose award-winning artwork is exhibited nationally and featured on the covers of American Psychologist, Dream Time, Fiction Fix, Flare, Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, and Permafrost Magazine, as well as inside Agave Magazine, Catamaran Literary Reader, Metonym, Midwest Review, Reed Magazine, Santa Clara Review, Saranac Review, Stonecoast Review, The Pacific Review, Trickster Literary Journal, West Marin Review, and Winter Tangerine Review. Her paintings are based on imagery from the unconscious, which operates as a dynamic image-creating partner, contributing surprises throughout her painting process. Her recently published book about working with imagery from the unconscious, “Panther Tracks: Lessons from the Vision Journey Paintings,” is now available at the BOOKSTORE at blurb.com.
© Jane Zich