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Painter of psychological allegories

@jessdezilva

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Jess creates:
• imagined spaces for wonder, ponder & musings 🕸
• perspectives on a confusing world

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‘It was mostly luck’ is the left and final panel of the triptych. The full 290 cm long piece with its many layers and details is difficult to portray in such small images. Real life still is the best!

Until then you can see the full triptych by looking at this pic in my grid. 😉

Do let me know your thoughts and if there’s a piece or section you’d like to see in more detail.

(oil on linen / 65 x 85 cm (side panel alone) / full triptych measures 290cm across / 2024 / available / more info on my website > galleries: the rite of spring)

#triptychon #fineartpainting #imaginedspaces #contemporaryart #magicrealism by @jessdezilva

‘spring will break it down’ is the middle panel of the triptych with that same name.
How many places - imagined and real - are folded into each other here. Spaces to wonder, ponder and walk in one’s mind.

Join me walking up the distant hills towards the penguins and discover what’s to be found beyond the haze or curtain today.

(swipe to see the un-cropped version)

(oil on linen / 65 x 110 cm (middle panel alone) / full triptych measures 290cm across / 2024 / available / more info on my website > galleries: the rite of spring) by @jessdezilva

It’s been months since I said I’d post the full view of my triptych ‘spring will break it down’. Time to make a start! Here is the right panel titled ‘the sky washed’.

Come back tomorrow to see the larger middle piece 😉

(oil on linen / 65 x 85 cm (side panel alone) / full triptych measures 290cm across / 2024 / available / more info on my website > galleries: the rite of spring)

#triptychon #fineartpainting #imaginedspaces #contemporaryart #magicrealism by @jessdezilva

The sun has been shining today and we finally had some rain so fresh greens are sticking their heads out. They are pushing through, aiming for the sun and the warmth while their roots are digging into the comfort of the soil.
Soil, compost - stuff that’s been through a long cycle, stuff that’s made from old stuff, stuff that’s made from food we throw away. Some would consider it rubbish and others think of it more like ‘gold’ - using the old to make the new.

Image: detail of ‘planting for 2021’ / oil on linen / 85 x 85cm / painting available / any questions DM me or contact me via my website (link in bio)

#hyena #startagain #growthstrategy #newplans #contemporaryfineart by @jessdezilva

This photo of the triptych ‘spring will break it down’ was taken a while ago in the sofa corner of the architect’s office.
Being nearly 3 metres wide it has since spent most of the time stuck in a crate.
Paintings are meant to be seen, not stare at a box wall… they get really sad and make nobody happy there either. Glad to say I’m planning to give it a good public showcase later this year. 😀

‘spring will break it down’ / oil on linen / triptych / 290cm x 85cm / 2025 /
The piece is available / any questions - please DM me or contact me via my website (link in bio)

#fineartpainting #triptych #designhouse #DesignHouse #fineartgallery by @jessdezilva

The pencil has ‘forget me not’ written along its side. It will be busy writing down many ideas, thoughts, notes, things not to forget, plans, shopping lists and more. Then some day it will measure no more than the length of half of your pinkie.
Then it will be ready to give new life: stick it upside down, with its little pod at the end, into soil and it will grow forget-me-nots.

Ideas (or plans or nearly anything for that matter) may be talked about or written down but don’t materialise out of nowhere. They need to be ‘planted’ properly. Their beds need some preparation, and they need good soil, regular attention, nurturing, love, passion and a dose of resilience to keep going.

Maybe it’s time to get that pencil out again and think about ‘planting and nurturing’ something?

Image: detail of ‘Planting for 2021’ / 85cm x 85cm / oil on linen / The painting is available / CHF 9000.- / any questions - please DM me or contact me via my website (link in bio)

#contemporaryfineart #figurativepainting #hyena #zeitgenössischemalerei #newideas by @jessdezilva

Throwback and glimpse into my solo show ‘things we do’ from a few years ago. I loved the character of this space!

Look there is the very first penguin 🐧 outing! And it’s also when more colour appeared in my paintings. This triptych was the beginning to so many works that I have created since. It sold from the exhibition into a fab collection.

#contemporaryfineartpainting #soloshow #magicalrealism by @jessdezilva

Hyenas have a bad reputation. They are “Exceedingly fond of putrefied flesh” according to Aristotle and I read that Hemingway labelled the animal a ‘hermaphroditic self-eating devourer of the dead”.

It turns out though, that hyenas are the best hunters in Africa. They are very intelligent and live in a tightly knit social structure wherein the successor of the alpha female is decided by birth.
They can crush bones and digest them, leaving barely anything to go to waste.

This wounded hyena is a detail taken from my painting titled ‘planting for 2021’. Pick any of the above characteristics, true or false, to ponder this animal in the painting.
How do you see hyenas?

‘Planting for 2021’ / 85cm x 85cm / oil on linen / The painting is available / CHF 9000.- / any questions - please DM me or contact me via my website (link in bio)

#fineartpainting #magicrealism #artwatchers by @jessdezilva

Never go to the folder titled 'images and videos to put away' when you are supposed to be doing something. You will find stuff! 😅

Found this little video of our duo show 'Pianissimo Forte' at @lakeside_gallery_zug in Switzerland in 2024.
Just having finished the hang and walking out the door.

Drawings in B&W are by @siratrinkler by @jessdezilva

A short varnishing clip of my recent mayoral portrait. As you can see the portrait is painted on a rigid surface. I opted to mount my favourite oil primed linen onto board of a specific size for this project. Bespoke all around. 😊

Why mount it on wood you may wonder?
There were three reasons:

1) most of the old paintings in the town hall were painted on wood and given the traditional setting it seemed a nice idea to keep up that practice

2) the thickness of the wood I chose fits perfectly into the given frame (doesn’t stick out the back as sometimes stretched canvases can do)

3) most importantly with the painting hanging in a public space at people’s shoulder-height this a safer option than stretched on bars. A rigid surface isn’t so easily ripped or stabbed by accident.

#liechtenstein #vaduz #portraitgemälde #portraitcommission #mayoralportrait by @jessdezilva

I paint the last strokes with the smallest brush - here a glimpse into the singing of my mayoral commission.

See my previous post for more info.

#signing #finalbrushstrokes #fineart #portraiturecommission #portraitgemälde by @jessdezilva