Biography
Jenna Spevack is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York.
Using drawing, installation, and digital media, her recent work looks at survival in the shifting natural and social-political environments. From the visualization of biological processes, conversations, historic events, scientific theories, and systems of belief, she invents narrative structures that examine ideas of interconnectedness, impermanence, and the interaction of forces, both observable and invisible.
She has a BFA in Printmaking from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MFA in Painting/Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Her work has been shown in one-person and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including Hendershot Gallery, NYC, Sanlun Yishu, Beijing, Mucius Galéria, Budapest, Cleary Gottlieb, NYC, Lisa Boyle Gallery, Chicago, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA, White Columns, NYC, Art in General, NYC, Anthony Giodano Gallery, Oakdale, NY, PS122 / Artwurl, Hostos Art Center, NYC, Artists Space, NYC, Monya Rowe Gallery, NYC, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY, Here Art, NYC, Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Bangs Street Gallery, Provincetown, MA, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Provincetown, MA, Bellwether Gallery, NYC, Parlor Projects, San Francisco, CA, Panorama City, Zurich, Switzerland and Longwood Arts Gallery, Bronx, NY.
She has received grants, residencies and fellowships from the Brooklyn Arts Council, I-Park in Connecticut, Sitka Center for Art & Ecology in Oregon, Platte Clove in Catskill NY, Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest, Estonian Artist's Association in Tallinn, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MacDowell Colony, Longwood Arts Project in the Bronx, Blue Mountain Center in NY, Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain, Hall Farm Center for Arts and Education in Vermont, PSCCUNY Research Foundation, and the Rumsey International Travel Grant in Japan.
Her work has been recognized in The New York Times, New York Arts, The Times Union, Daily Gazette, Metroland Magazine, Provincetown Magazine, Provincetown Banner, Providence Journal Bulletin, Art New England, and on Monitor Public Radio.
A Selection of Projects and Exhibitions:
Trilogy : Chelsea Modern, NYC
(August 19 - September 17, 2009)
Ferencvarosi Gallery, Budapest
( May 7 - May 29, 2009 )
Hendershot Gallery, NYC
Artist Talk March 7, 2pm
(January 22 - March 7, 2009)
Sanlun Yishu : Beijing, CHINA
(Dropping Brooklyn - on-going)
MONTI OPEN STUDIOS
(November 15, 2008 | 5-9pm)
Emerging Artists Series : Cleary Gottlieb, NYC
(September 18 - December 18, 2008)
HMC/A.I.R at Mucius Galéria, Budapest
( August 5 - August 15, 2008 )
Artist Residencies : Hungary and Estonia
( June 16 - July 31, 2008 )
Some Things Which are Funny : Lisa Boyle Gallery
( July 29 - August 26 2006 )
Conduit: Columbus State University
( October 12 - December 8, 2005 )
"The artists included in
Conduit not only rearrange and explore our relationships to
the natural world; they also invite the viewer to engage
with their role as participant in the making of meaning,
the creation of science and the internal and external
environments.
A Funny Feeling of Weightlessness at Anthony Giordano Gallery
( October 10 - November 14, 2004 )
"Basing their work on their own scientific theories and beliefs, Spevack explores the nature of existence through different narratives while Busby's Creativity Enhancement Shelters function as both sculpture and precincts to promote imagination."
PS122 Artwurl : #17
( Issue 5 – March 04 )
"Warp & Weft" is a series that combines digital diagrams with scanned pencil drawings of various objects and animals. The distorted, orange web is a continuous pattern created by charting every move in a group of chess games played by the artist. Chess is sometimes called "the game of life". Each game was recorded and a visual representation of that particular game was created. The variety of outcomes is reflected in the different patterns. Contained, floating or slipping through the weave of the web are bits and pieces of fragmented matter — fluid particles.
Featured Artist : At Length Magazine
( Issue 2: Winter 2004 )
Drawings from the Sticks and Stones series have been published in the most recent issue of At Length magazine. This is a literary magazine devoted to one long poem and one long story or novella each issue.
White Room at White Columns
( December 2003 - February 2004 )
"Jenna Spevack's drawings explore various systems of theory and belief, from scientific thought to religious values. For example, an ongoing series uses three basic objects-sticks, stones and strings-to explore paradigms of physics, from the Theory of Relativity to superstring theory. Her recent drawings introduce floods and explosions to the mix, sending their subjects floating out to sea or hurtling through the air. In some, depictions of animal patterns butterfly wings, turtle shells, zebra skins, etc.) evoke nature in a highly stylized manner. Spevack's delicate drawings examine the interaction between humans and their environment, both harmonious and doomed."