Jen Denzin

FEATURED ARTIST

Can you introduce yourself and your practice?

I am Jen Denzin and I’m a local artist in Newcastle. I make wacky environments.

What makes you feel happy with a work?

Really, I make it so that for myself, if I like it, if I feel that it’s inviting enough, it’s interesting enough, it’s weird enough, slightly scary sometimes, then I’m happy with the work and happy for people to walk through it.

What interests you about awkwardness or uncertainty?

I like awkward moments in conversations and mismatches, kind of not understanding someone, and then it gets a bit strange. So I feel like with my work, I try to hang my work in a way that you’re not quite sure what’s happening and it’s all a bit odd, but you’re immersed in it and you can’t escape.

That’s it.

And make them feel slightly unsettled. So not because I’m trying to press that. It’s more, I attribute it to a moment on a cruise ship.

Where did that interest in strange or unsettling environments come from?

I went on a cruise with my sister, and we were in, like, a bar, and then the wall opened. So this beautiful wall with wainscoting and little chandeliers and lovely art actually swung open. And there was a steward with a coffee cart or something. And behind him was the actual ship with the bolt heads and the steel.

And it was so strange and so weird. I absolutely loved it. It’s like this little capsule, this little weird environment with experiences on a big ship in the middle of the Pacific. So that kind of kicked off a whole heap of, I suppose, exhibitions exploring that. You walk into a space and wonder if you’re safe or what’s happening and there’s no way out.

It kind of smashes you across the face. All your senses are freaking out a bit.

How did you begin making this kind of work?

Generally I find something that’s free. That’s not going to cost me a great deal. So when I was at art school, there was a little shopfront gallery across the road from the Hunter TAFE.

I would book in routinely and muck around in there. So it was kind of free. I could do whatever I wanted. I feel like that kicked off something, so I’d be doing what I had to do at art school, ticking boxes and really enjoying it. I had phenomenal teachers there. But it was more.

Okay, where can I find an opportunity that’s not going to cost a great deal, that I can really kind of let it all out and see what happens? So I started that nearly 20 years ago, and from then I think it’s just gained momentum in terms of relationships with galleries. I work for Maitland Regional Art Gallery and I think, just talking to people, connecting, not with any particular agenda. I really enjoy the art scene in Newcastle.

Very collegial, everyone’s supportive and things just sort of fall into my lap, which is good.

Who do you make the work for?

My benchmark is do I like it, does it interest me. Do I want to go and look at it. That’s kind of my audience, which sounds terrible.

But that’s it.

How has Newcastle’s art community shaped your practice?

There’s a lot of support in Newcastle and there’s a lot of support from my teachers. So when I went through the TAFE 20 years ago, maybe we had the cream of the crop. So we had Braddon Snape, Michael Bell, Claire Martin, Michelle Brodie, Madeline Snow, Lesley Tilley, Peter Read, John Turier, the list goes on and on.

Amazing teachers. Sorry, I forgot John Morris, Maisie Turner. So just incredible, devoted, amazing artists who kind of just brought us to where we were at and encouraged us to find our voice and run with it. And even today, a lot of those teachers turn up at my shows. Or, if we’re in group shows, they’ll turn up to support us.

So that’s 20 odd years down the track. So I feel like the community, the Newcastle arts community, including incredible artists like our teachers, just very friendly and collegial and supportive. And I feel like there’s a knock on effect. You have to pass it on.

Is there a piece of advice from a teacher that has stayed with you?

Actually, Peter Lancaster was another great. He wasn’t my teacher, but I just listened to everything he said when he was passing.

So I was drawing, I think I was in first year drawing en plein air on the back verandah of art school and just didn’t love it. Sort of ink everywhere. I think it was blue ink. He walked behind me and said, what you need is an orange stripe. And I was like, what, an orange stripe?

What the heck? Anyway, I tried to solve it without the orange stripe and of course took his advice, and it would just turn into an amazing artwork which, you know, painting is number 14, or drawing. So he just, it’s years and years and years of experience and problem solving.

Who did you go to for advice after art school?

But Jill, when I first finished art school and didn’t know what I was doing, I’d just go and find her and have a chat to her.

It’s like, Jill, tell me what to do. And she was always wise. And she just kind of knew the right thing to say. And I followed her advice.

What is the best response you’ve had to your work?

My best response ever, if I ever write a memoir, which I won’t, is, oh, my God, I’m going to vomit.

I like it.

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