Jacqueline Volkell

Artist Statement

My painting practice is built on how I see—where subject and background are not separate. I intuitively merge foreground and background so that everything exists as one.
My mind does not think in black and white; it sees the world in nuance, constantly shifting and changeable. This way of seeing drives my abstract work.
I’m interested in tension—where forms feel both contained and in motion—and in creating spaces that feel connected and continuously evolving.
Through gestural mark-making, layered paint, and an intuitive physical process, I build active surfaces where structure and fluidity coexist, as organic forms push against underlying geometries.
I apply thick layers of paint using brushes, palette knives, and my hands, allowing the work to develop through movement, repetition, and instinct.
The paintings hold a push and pull between organic forms and man-made geometries, allowing observation to shift and reorganize through the act of painting.