LYDIA JANSSEN: ALL THE KING'S HORSES

ALL the KING’S HORSES

by LYDIA JANSSEN

LYDIA JANSSEN ‘All the King’s Horses’ is a painted collection of short stories spanning the last five years since I arrived in Singapore from New York City. They are reflections on my life as a cast of characters; daughter, dancer, lover, mother.

My interpretation of these characters and their stories have become more literal, more figurative and less pure abstraction as I’m finding clarity in using familiar images, and thus really including the viewer in my journey.

My process relies heavily on my partnership with the painting itself. Although the work is autobiographical and therefore quite an autonomous journey, it is like a dance.

I dance with the canvas, leading it, then letting it lead me.

Breaking it down, then building it back up. This process creates many layers which in turn pull the viewer into the painting for their own little dance as different symbols and characters emerge from it, created by the viewer themselves.

The title, taken from the famous lullaby, follows Humpty Dumpty, falling down, falling to pieces, unable to get up, as I did in a literal sense from my dance injuries and as I experienced figuratively as I navigated a new country, culture, motherhood and the person which I was becoming. Humpty gets up, falls again and so on, and so on ….lesson learning, finding beauty in the unbeautiful, order in the disarray, true grit, changing course and moving through life…..

TRUMPED 2018 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 91h x 81w cm

THE CHAIRMAN 2018 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 91h x 81w cm

CAESAR 2016 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 121h x 101w cm

THREE WEIGHTS 2016 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 121h x 101w cm

LE JEUNE HOMME ET LA MORT 2017 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 100h x 200w cm

RABBIT RUN 2017 Oil, Chalk and Charcoal on Linen 178h x 173w cm

TOPSY TURVY 2017 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 153h x 123w cm

EPONA 2018 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 200h x 300w cm

THE ORANGE GROVE 2017 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 100h x 200w cm

MILK PARTS 2012 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 153h x 123w cm

SEACROWN 2017 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 92h x 82w cm

ALL THE KING’S HORSES 2018 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 178h x 286w cm

THE MOVER 2017 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 163h x 93w cm

LAMENESS 2014 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 142h x 178w cm

CABARET 2018 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 178h x 178w cm

STUDIES

STUDY (FEATS) 2017 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 51h x 41w cm

STUDY (THE JOKER AND THE DOG) 2017 Oil, Chalk, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 51h x 41w cm

STUDIES

STUDY (LAY DOWN HUMPTY) 2017 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 41h x 5z1w cm

STUDY (THE RAM) 2017 Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen 41h x 51w cm

L

ydia Janssen was born in Lansing, Michigan

in 1976 and received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 1998. After graduating, she moved to New York City to pursue a professional dance career, dancing on scholarship at the Merce Cunningham Studio School, performing with modern dance troupes Pam Tanowitz Dance Company and Jordana Toback/POON Dance Company.

Janssen’s dance career ended after several injuries, leading her to focus fully on her art. Janssen spent a year at the Graduate Fine Arts Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, before returning to New York to study at the Art Students League (2005-07) with Larry Poons and Ronnie Landfield, where in her final year won the prestigious Red Dot award for Excellence in Painting.

Janssen’s work has been exhibited at The Asia Contemporary Art Fair, Hong Kong (2016), The Singapore Contemporary Art Fair, Singapore (2016), The American Club, Singapore (2015), the Susan Eley Fine Art Gallery, New York City (2014, SOLO), the Art Silicon Valley/San Francisco Fair, California (2015), Cielo, New York City (2008); Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA (2007); The Art Students League Gallery (2006) NACUL Center Gallery, Amherst, MA (2005, SOLO), Asian Fusion Gallery, New York City (2001); New York Academy of Art (1999); and Space Gallery, Bronxville, NY (1998), amongst others.

Many of Janssen’s paintings are in private collections in the US, UK and Asia. Janssen is represented by the Susan Eley Fine Art Gallery in New York City and REDSEA Gallery in Singapore.

ALL the KING’S HORSES

by LYDIA JANSSEN

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