Jennifer Lashbrook is a Dallas artist. She was born in a small town in Illinois, but moved to Dallas a few years later, where she has resided ever since. At the age of ten, her parents enrolled her in an oil painting class while she was visiting family during the summertime. Having fallen in love with oil painting, she continued to work creating landscapes in this ''Bob Ross'' painting style for the next few years.
Although Jennifer Lashbrook's oil paintings are impressive, she has become known for her ''Swatch Paintings''. This unique method of portraiture involves intricately cut pieces of paper arranged to create a stunning work of art. From a distance the works exhibit a photo realistic quality, upon closer inspection the viewer becomes mesmerized by the detailed and elaborate display of meticulously and cleverly arranged color swatches. These swatch paintings show a comical reference to the commercial, the digital and the reproducible. Toying at the idea that anyone can re-create their own master work.
I am obsessed with color!!! I am intrigued by an over- examination of my subject matter. I want to dissect the image, survey the hues, values, and saturations and leave for the viewer a schematic of the color palette.
I use individually cut paper paint swatches in a collage form to create pixilated images of landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and famous works of art. From a distance, the colors blend to create a photo realistic quality, with the individual ‘pixels’ becoming more distinguishable the closer the viewer moves to the piece. When viewed up close, the meticulous arrangement of the paper is truly impressive, and the volume of colors used to create each palette is visually mesmerizing. When viewed through a cell phone or at a distance, the images become clear and details seem to jump off of the viewing plane displaying Gestalt psychology and how your brain connects the dots (or squares in this case) based on experience. The cell phone acts as a filter, and this unique way to view my art creates a fun and interactive experience for the viewer.
As part of my artistic process, there is something about collecting that I love. The trip to the hardware store, to gather my materials whets the appetite to create. The time I spend organizing and cataloguing the swatches is meditative. The exploration of the subject matter and the scrutiny with which i discern the slightest subtleties of color and tone challenges me. Each small piece of paper with an identifier of it’s color source, specifically cut to create for the viewer a digital-age impressionistic reference to a paint by number - my adult version of a puzzle.
-Jennifer Lashbrook