Jenny Chernansky

Artist Statement

Jenny Chernansky is a Chicago and New Orleans based artist known for
blending traditional techniques in drawing and painting with photography,
transfers, and immersive installations with light, shadow and film. Her work
explores the intersections of love, fragility, and mythology - often drawing from
personal narratives and universal feminine myths and archetypes to examine
contemporary views on women, persona, and the shadow in our current cultural
landscape. Her work has been shown across galleries and museums both
nationally and internationally. Jenny received her BA from Columbia College and
MFA from SAIC.

Using a unique transfer process there is a breaking down, tearing apart and mending.
Each piece is created through a combination of controlled application and chaotic
intervention, where the image when applied to the surface reacts to time, pressure,
and volume. In the process of making these works there was cutting, tearing, ripping,
picking, pulling apart and putting back together.
Through the incorporation of items such as nails, tears, blood, and hair, the work
reflects on the religious implications and history of relics - physical pieces of the body
which are believed to hold transcendent power to heal, answer prayers or end
suffering. In some traditions, suffering is venerated and may lead to salvation, whereas
in others it is something to be freed from.
The square image has recently been synonymous with social media and the plethora of
photos that often encompass projected ideals of life or self. The hypersexualization of
women’s bodies reveal only surface qualities. This idealization creates a dissonance, a
dissociation from our true selves which is often buried beneath the surface.
Reflecting on the violence against women in media and society at large, these issues
have often been sensationalized or buried to the point where it doesn’t even register
as a real problem. As much as movements like ‘me too’ have made an impact, gender
issues, gender violence, and feminine sexuality continue to be dangerous and often a
beacon for violence. Instead of addressing it it becomes entertainment or a back story,
overshadowed. More often than not signs of abuse are well hidden, out of fear or
shame or misplaced loyalty. These issues lie buried, hidden behind pretty lies and
smiling faces, just under the skin.