“ When I paint , I want to paint emotion . I don ’ t want to paint pretty for the sake of pretty .”
recommendation for college , he refused and said I would never amount to anything as an artist .”
Thankfully , Jensen didn ’ t listen to his naysaying teacher and continued to work on his art . As we chatted over Zoom , I couldn ’ t help but stare at a painting hanging behind him . It was a portrait of a man made up of tiny pieces , in the process of being painted over by an attractive woman . The whites of his eyes stood out against the bold colors of the piece , and I found it difficult to look away . When I asked him about it , he said the piece is called , “ When a Broken Heart Hungers for a Clean Slate .” It is a self-portrait made of four larger pieces and is part of a series of three similar works . He further explained that the reason the woman is covering him up is because she ’ s heard some malicious gossip , and in her anger , begins to paint over the portrait .
This is the type of emotional thread Duane likes to tug at . To dare the on-looker to consider what ’ s in front of them . This ‘ I-dareyou-to-look ’ style is one he has mastered .
“ I ’ ve always described myself as an emotional realist because when I paint , I want to paint emotion . I don ’ t want to paint pretty for the sake of pretty . When I do landscapes , my trees and plants have a sense of age , a sense of weariness , as if the act of living has taken its toll .
“ Edward Hopper is my favorite artist , and both of us have been influenced by cinema , primarily film noir . I think of each painting as a film still — a moment captured out of time . I want enough in each painting to give the viewer a “ want to know what went on before the painting and what might take place afterward .”
These moments Jensen captures are slices of emotive virtuosity . And they are captured in ink .
“ I started with watercolors and used that till I was about 18 . Then I kind of went away from that and did a lot of acrylics until 2001 or 2002 , when I saw a show at the Tacoma Art Museum . It had Dali , Picasso , Matisse , and a couple of other artists I can ’ t think of . But the pieces that stood out to me the most were Dali ’ s , and the majority of his exhibited pieces were done with ink . They were so vivid and detailed . I had to try ink . Moving into ink lead me to put canvas aside and work more on watercolor paper , clay board , and later Yupo medium .
“ I also liked the fact that it took a little longer for the inks to dry than watercolor but are quicker than acrylic . I described this discovery to my friends saying , ‘ Finally , my brush could dance !’ It felt natural . I like to paint quickly to have that sense of immediacy and emotion . I ’ ve been at it for so many years now , the act
“ Moments of reflection and loss : Within the earlier hours before dawn , they each asked themselves , ‘ How did we get here ?’ As they tried to remember the ‘ who ’ they had wanted to be and not the person they had become .” © 2011 by Duane Kirby Jensen 12 x 24 ”, ink and acrylic on claybord
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