Laurence Jenkell

Good evening contemporary art lovers!
Here is the latest interview I did with a French-born artist Laurence Jenkell. Well-known in France, her "candies-sculptures" can be seen everywhere in Paris in most of the famous places such as Matignon, Arc, Laduree..... Born in 1965, she used to work in hotel business before becoming an artist. She currently lives and works in South of France.

Your influences range from Pollock to Arman and before being a sculptor you were a painter. What did you learned from those artists and how did they influence you?

I am self-taught and when I started to visit museums, I was literally impressed by the impressionists. I was impressed by the sheer joy of their paint, their innovations, the motion of the colors by small stroke. I used to love the Musee d’Orsay for its unequalled collection of paintings by Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Sisley, Degas… What I basically retained from those early experiences is that one must free oneself, go out to the cancans, invent one’s own color palette, in the same way as one invents ones own life and innovate without fear of what people might say. I was then and am still fascinated by Picasso whom people think they know because they have seen several of his works, only to discover new works and especially in these works, an intelligence which can only serve as reference.

Your work is henceforth recognized by your huge “sculptures-candy”. Why did you choose this emblem as a reference?

An artist must find his own language. Impose his/her style. As far as I am concerned, the subject of Candy imposed itself on me because, as a child, I was not allowed any sweets and I suffered not being able to eat candies like my friends did. A childhood frustration is today my revenge since Candy has now become my predilection which I continue ad infinitum. The first Candy works were composed on canvas with real candies which I heated in the kitchen oven, then I continue with abstracts compositions on canvas treated with resin or epoxy.

READ MORE:
http://www.hauteliving.com/2012/06/haute-art-exclusive-one-on-one-with-laurence-jenkell/