Jessie Novik

Artist Statement

Like many artists, I have an overactive imagination. Elaborate ideas for landscapes, characters, objects and narratives swim through my thoughts incessantly, often precluding concentration on mundane tasks. I am an excessive daydreamer, addicted to the surreal, and making art is how I resolve the tension between focus and fantasy.
I find inspiration in the landscape of my dreams, pulling faded memories and fantastical visions from one side of reality to the other with classical technique. My struggle to focus is an asset that has helped to expand my artistic approach and keeps my process fresh and ever-evolving. I move as seamlessly between subjects and mediums as I do between fantasy and reality, from figurative oil painting, to large-scale community-based and commercial mural projects, to more loosely painted watercolor sketches. Fantasy is not just an escape, it is a realm in which complex social and political issues?often difficult to navigate in the present?become personal and accessible.
As a classically schooled artist, I care deeply about craft and technique, while my training as an art therapist adds a level of emotional and psychological insight to my work, reflecting the inspiration of both surrealist innovators like Max Ernst, and psychoanalytic pioneers like Jung and Freud. Playful and dynamic, my work is an invitation to my audience, to follow me back into the dreamscapes and refuges?lost to many?that I work to keep accessible and alive.