Bill Jensen and Van Gogh: Heir apparent

Artwork by Bill Jensen

The paintings of Bill Jensen in his early career are remarkable works. They are mere abstract forms made up of coils, trumpets, almost eluding to prehistoric figures, or ancient bones. These images are also painted in a manner consistent with early American modernist painters. The work puts him in connection with a tradition of American painters working in a similar matter. But Jensen's work is unique and exhibits his command for painting. The texture, color, and composition of this work exhibit a sense of mastery over his medium. They also embody a great sense of dimensionality in the abstract. This is what makes these works interesting, compelling, and relevant. I find a lot of inspiration from these works, and their color which is incredibly dynamic but in a way that is less conscious than his later paintings. I read that he used to not clean his brushes giving him interesting tonal effects. These are paintings that make you not want to just go to the studio and paint, but work for days in and out painting.

They are painted in a matter that Van Gogh would be proud of. We should not underestimate the genius of Van Gogh. When one thinks of the amount of work he created in just a short span of life, it's no wonder that Van Gogh thought of himself as a resurrected Jesus Christ. Even dying at the same age of Christ, 36. Van Gogh is the Christ of painters. He's a symbolic tale of an artist, who's struggle can be read about in various movies, and novels. If you haven't read Irving Stones "Lust For Life," I suggest you pick up a copy for it procures the myth of this artist as a spiritual figure sent down from heaven on a mission to make us truly SEE.

Bill Jensen is such an artist. His work of the 1980's painted 100 years after Van Gogh conveys the same passion for paint and art. Just think of Van Gogh laboring in a studio in Williamsburg with no pot to piss in (literally, he pissed in a hole connected to a sewer line,) and you got Bill Jensen in the 80's. He labored hard on these works, almost 7 years on some, and what you get is a sublime representation of the true artist. What Van Gogh made us see in the world around us, Bill Jensen of the 1980's made us see of the world inside of us.

You want to look in Van Gogh's ear? Check out Bill Jensen.