In the painting And in the End, The Monster Ate Them Both (2009) one sees a ghastly canine carcass laying on a table with a group of humans gathered around it in an exotically urban setting. The grouping of the dead and living in this work blurs the demarcation between life and death. This morbidity is echoed in tree branches that are half-barren and half-lush with vegetation. Stylistically, Meanly leaves some of the compositional elements loose and curious while rendering certain figures very specifically and individually. Despite the stoic nature of the humans’ facial expressions, the rhythm of the relationships between the eyes, nose and lips within the odd angularity of the facial bone structure combine with the color palette and composition to communicate nuanced emotions. As Meanley’s rendering shifts from tight to ghostly her color palette shifts from vibrant to dark, but it is always masterfully improvisational. In the end Meanley’s style and content combine to express a deep emotional reality that becomes finely surreal in such imaginative and proficient painting.
- David Jarred
Jennifer Meanley: 'Past Tense - Marking Time' at the Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center, 2727 Woodburn Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45206. Through January 8, 2010.
In Photo: Meanley, Jennifer. And in the End The Monster Ate Them Both, 2009. Oil on canvas, , 72x108in. Photo Courtesy of Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center.
