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JEN BESEMER ABOUT JEN |
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ARTIST'S STATEMENT | BIOGRAPHY | ||
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Everything I make develops from a poetic consciousness. When I paint, I convey through image what occurs throughout the active state of being in poetry. The process is itself as much a poetic manifestation as anything it brings about. In this way, poetry and artistic effort become not just occupations or artifacts but, in broad view, ways of living. Such a discipline, no matter what its resulting product, is for me inseparable from life. Therefore I begin a painting with no preconceived goals, building up materials and working into a surface of disorienting depth and texture. This disorientation is essential. It allows shapes, objects, people, animals and settings to suggest themselves through the patterns of color and the buildup of paint and other media. From there, I refine the picture, drawing heavily from my subconscious and from dream imagery. The process is unpredictable and relies on an openness to change, to surprise. A finished picture might suggest or even depict recognizable objects, but it has an equal chance of sidestepping depiction entirely. Whatever its final appearance, each piece starts out spontaneously, as random blotches and slashes of color on primed paper, canvas or wood panel. I form my collages and assemblages in a similarly dynamic way. Instead of building a surface with paint, I accumulate printed images or found objects and, in combining these by trial and error, I come up with something catalytic and compelling. Humor is present through all my visual work, but it is most direct and undiluted in the collages. |
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I was born in upstate New York on December 5, 1970. I grew up in Buffalo, attending City Honors School for grades 8-12. In fall of 1988 I entered Antioch College (Yellow Springs, Ohio), graduating in 1992 with a B.A. in Creative Writing. I stayed on to complete my M.A. in the same field, through Antioch University's Individualized Master of Arts program. I have held a wild assortment of various day jobs throughout the years, including library clerk, dairymaid/farm hand, assistant manager of an art gallery and of a coffee shop, editor, receptionist in a transient hotel, research assistant to a prominent scientist/inventor, grant writer, artist's model and teacher. After some time living in Washington, D.C., I now live in Chicago with my husband and our four cats. |
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Books (Translated Works)
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Tristan Tzara: Collected Surrealist Prose University of Texas Press, "Surrealist Revolution" series. Forthcoming.
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Poetry Books and Chapbooks
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Last Sun (Jinglebox Press, forthcoming in 2001)
The Year of Wood (Jinglebox Press, 2000) What is Born (Lilliput Review Press, 2000) barnraising (private printing, 1998) |
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Poetry Publications (Periodicals)
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Individual poems regularly appear in The Bitter Oleander, Flash!Point, Lilliput Review and Sulphur River Literary Review. Numerous poems have also appeared in the following publications: Angelflesh, Avocet, Black Buzzard Review, Blank Gun Silencer, Cokefish, Howling Mantra, Libido, The Llewellyn Magical Almanac, Nomad's Choir, and tight.
Featured poet at the website www.PoetrySuperHighway.com, December 24-31, 2000. |
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Articles and Essays
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"The Year We Played the Waiting Game: André Breton and Tristan Tzara in 1919," upcoming in The American Journal of Print Issue 3.
"The Landscape of Sorrow: Tristan Tzara," upcoming in Sulphur River Literary Review, fall 2003. "The Obsessive Force: Tristan Tzara's Surrealist Activity" forthcoming in Rain Taxi Review of Books, fall/winter 2002-3. "Gérard Durozoi's History of the Surrealist Movement," forthcoming in Rain Taxi Review of Books, fall/winter 2002-3. |
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Poetry Translations
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Ten poems by Tristan Tzara, upcoming in Sulphur River Literary Review, fall 2003.
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Anthologized Texts
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"A Smart New Star," in Surrealist Subversion: Rants, Writings & Images by the Surrealist Movement in the United States, edited & introduced by Ron Sakolsky. Foreword by Franklin Rosemont. ISBN 15-702712-2-4. (Autonomedia), in press.
"José Guadalupe Posada," in Viva Posada! A Salute to the Great Printmaker of the Mexican Revolution, edited/introduced by Carlos Cortez. ISBN 088286-261-8. Charles H. Kerr Company: Chicago, 2002. |
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Publications Edited
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Anna Clift Smith's "Van Buren Life."
Friends of Reed Library, State University of New York College at Fredonia, New York, 1996. |
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Lectures and Public Appearances
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Speaker, Surrealist Subversions book release and "Surrealism Here & Now" exhibit closing party, Heartland Café Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, September 19, 2002.
Speaker, Bastille Day celebration/opening for "Surrealism Here & Now" exhibit, Heartland Café Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, July 13, 2002. Panelist, "Surrealist Subversions: The Surrealist Movement in the United States," Printer's Row Book Fair, Chicago, Illinois, June 2, 2002. |
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Reviews of Key Works
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M.K. Shibek and Brandon Freels, "Subversively Surreal." Fifth Estate, Fall 2002, pp. 37-38.
Seth Taplin, "Jen Besemer's The Year of Wood." Katnip Reviews: issue 11, April 2002, p. 27.
Patricia Laster, "Jen Besemer's What is Born." Katnip Reviews issue 6, October 2000, p, 15.
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Related Professional Experience
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Ohio Arts Council Institute on Writing and Teaching, Wright State University, Ohio, July 18-23, 1993 (participant).
Instructor, "Opening the Poetic Box: Evocation Beyond Narrative" workshop, Summer 2001. |
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Memberships
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Chicago Surrealist Group; National Writers Union; National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
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Education
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Master of Arts (Creative Writing), Antioch University, 1994 Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing), Antioch College, 1992 |
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Exhibitions
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2002
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Surrealism Here and Now! Invitational. Heartland Café Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
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Commissions
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2002
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"Peetie Dreams," acrylic and conte crayon on paper. Commissioned by Paul Garon for the book The Devil's Son-in-Law: The Story of Peetie Wheatstraw and His Songs, second edition; Charles H. Kerr & Co., publishers.
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2000
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Seven untitled mixed-media works on paper. Commissioned by Akire Bubar for cover and insert for compact disc recording, Arms of the Sun.
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Private Collections
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(Chicago, Illinois) Little Box of Monsters, assemblage, 2002. Collection of Franklin and Penelope Rosemont.
Reynard the Fox, acrylic and mixed media on paper, 2000. Collection of Monica Kendrick. Blue Codex, mixed media on paper, 1999. Collection of Katherine Rosenfeld. (Washington, D.C.) Something Good is About to Happen to You, acrylic and mixed media on paper; Jazz Codex / Blues for Kevin, (diptych) acrylic and mixed media on paper, 2000. Collection of Marie Schneggenburger. |
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Bibliography (*Reviews)
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*Janina Ciezadlo, "Surrealism Here & Now," Artsource.net, August 2002.
Franklin Rosemont, Surrealism Here and Now! Catalog, Chicago Surrealist Group, 2002. *Ray Dorsey, "Co-Pick of the Week," Chaos Realm Web-based magazine, January 7, 2002. |
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Education
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Studied painting with Steven Cushner, William Christenberry, and Joyce McCarten, Washington, D.C., 1996-2000.
Master of Arts, Antioch University, Yellow Springs, Ohio (1994). Bachelor of Arts, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio (1992). |