Jerry Svoboda
I'm an emerging artist who has recently transitioned out of a career in film and animation. I have a BA in Art and Art History with an emphasis on painting and drawing. I've studied at Cal Poly, Pomona, The University of New Mexico, and the Art Institute of Chicago. I'm also a former member of the Chicago Printmakers' Collaborative. I've been a resident of Portland since 2006.
Some of the contradictions of contemporary life inform my thinking and my art. I see a world that is both beautiful and broken, sublime and spoiled. This thinking shows up in my art when I represent things that I find distasteful or ugly alongside those that I find beautiful. For me, a complete picture holds everything in view.
My current process starts with drawing and observing from life. After I've observed and made drawings, I use them as reference for painting in acrylic back in my studio. I have a particular interest in exploring my recollections of transient scenes I've observed. I'm often transported in my mind back to the moment of first looking as I translate a drawing onto a painting. I strain to see beyond the marks on the page to a more complex scene from my memory. Over time, the layers of seeing and recollecting accumulate. As I work through, I navigate my imagination, the gaps in my memory, and the suggestions that arise from the paint. I'm hoping to accumulate the best of these into a unified picture.
Address: 1406 SE Marion St. Portland OR 97202
Acrylic|Drawing|Painting
Community: Outer SE Portland
Studio Number: 76
Email: jerrigger@mac.com
