Jessica Ballantyne; an introduction to me, my art and my influences

Jessica Ballantyne An introduction to me, my influences and my art

Bio

Born in South Africa, I was awarded my BA in Fine Arts from

the University of Pretoria in 2009. Here’s me with my friends

on graduation day.

At the end of 2009 I moved to the UK to become an artist.

A series of “getting by” jobs, however, distracted me from

my plan and put my artistic dreams on hold

Over the next two years I lived on a job site in an old,

leaking, spider-infested caravan in the beautiful

countryside and worked as a laboratory assistant. When

the time came to leave the countryside, I moved to London

to pursue my art. I found a studio in Woolwich where I

planned to spend a year of artistic freedom!

This lead to a really liberating time and in 2013 I joined a

collective and began showing my work in Vyner street.

Happy days!!

In 2014 I moved to an amazing new artist space in Thurrock,

at High House Production Park where I still am today.

Inspiration

Whilst at University I became inspired by the

difference between the way male and female artists

in the surrealist movement portrayed women

I saw similarities between photography, pornography

and media images of women, and the work of many

male artists. They all seemed to spring from the same

ideology of women as available objects of desire

Inspiring Male Photographers

Man Ray

Andre Kertzche

Hans Bellmer

Man Ray used light to crop and pattern the nude female body

Andre Kertzche used reflective materials to distort and disfigure the body

Hans Bellmer used dolls to disfigure, fetishise and sexualise parts of the female body

Inspiring Male Painters

Dali

Matisse

Picasso

Dali’s smooth technique and his sexual, psychoanalytic themes

Picasso’s blue phase and use of colour to portray emotion

Matisse’s ground breaking use of colour and patterns

One of my aims is to comment on how we portray

women, as well as to show and comment on my

experience of my own femininity.

I wondered if there was a way to show the body as

something different, something more than just a

body, more than just an object.

How would I begin to show a body within which a

presence resides; the subject?

Inspiring Female photographers

Cindy Sherman

Anna Mendieta

Francesca Woodman

Cindy Sherman used her own body to comment on sexual objectification

Francesca Woodman used her body to create surreal and psychological portraits and states

Anna Mendieta used her body as an “imprint” to comment on her origin and her place as a woman in her environment

Inspiring Female Artists

Tracy Payne

Hanna Hoch

Leonora Carrington

Hanna Hoch’s use of collage and texture

Tracy Payne’s delicate layering and sexual themes

Leonora Carrington’s surreal themes and personal expressions

My Work

I am inspired by the surrealists' use of

colour, distortion, repetition and allusion

when portraying the female body.

I aim to use similar techniques to create a

body that draws you in but challenges you

at the same time.

Surreal Surfboard

By Jessica Ballantyne

Oil paint on surfboard

170x48cm

Some of my work at the ‘Living arts

Show’ 2014. Body painting and art

go so well together! ;) My surfboard and I at the Art Car Boot

Fair, Brick Lane, London 2014

I want to celebrate and portray a sexuality

that is neither explicit nor moderated

To achieve this I infuse my painted bodies

with individual psychology and

presence

By Jessica Ballantyne

Medium; Oil on canvas

Size; 90x90cm

Foot Fetish #1

Carrion

Wake Up

By Jessica Ballantyne

Medium;Oil on canvas

Size; 90x90cm

Each piece is a search for meaning in and

beyond the body.

I play with the perception and

representation of the female body

To challenge ideologies associated with the

female nude as a passive, submissive object

of desire.

By Jessica Ballantyne

Medium; Oil on canvas

Size; 85x100cm

Foot Fetish #2

Squished #1

By Jessica Ballantyne

Medium; Oil on canvas

Size; 40x40cm

My work is a celebration of sensuality,

sexuality and subjectivity.

It is an exploration into the psychology of

experience.

Eye-Balling

By Jessica Ballantyne

Medium; Oil and spray paint

on canvas

Size; Eight 40x40cm canvases

Pink

By Jessica Ballantyne

Medium; Oil on canvas

Size: Three canvases

measuring

80x40cm

80x60cm

80x80cm

I enjoyed putting that together, hope you

enjoyed looking at it!

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