Explore Jessica Lichtenstein’s captivating world, where emotions find expression in breathtaking artworks. Delve into her exploration of femininity, nature, and fantasy, uncovering the complexities of power and representation. Follow her journey across different mediums as she challenges boundaries and embraces new horizons.
Your astounding works are truly breathtaking. How did you come to express emotions in such a captivating manner?
Thank you so much! A couple of things. I love pieces that continually have surprises. Similar to the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch, which are filled with numerous characters and every inch of space offers something exciting to look at. In all my works, I enjoy filling the canvas with numerous details, allowing viewers to discover something new each time they look at the piece. Moreover, the presence of various figures expressing different sentiments and emotions ensures that viewers are captivated each time they observe the artwork.
How do you perceive the connection between femininity and nature, and what inspired you to explore this theme?
I love the idea of “Mother Nature.” This feminine form that sprouts life from the Earth and gives birth to all the greenery and flowers and vegetation that surrounds us. So to me, making all the grass and leaves and flowers into feminine forms is a way of honoring that feminine force of Nature, and the Seasons we all live by.
Your works are often described as offering glimpses into an alternate reality where nymphs joyfully engage in play. What sparked the inspiration for these fantastical and vibrant creations?
I love the idea of escapism. I’ve always loved fantasy and dystopian futures and worlds created from imagination – whether in film, literature, or art. Don’t get me wrong, I love realism too. But if you can mix imagination into realism and create something no one has seen before, that lives in your mind, it’s an amazing feeling to set it free and let other people live in that world as well. I love it when people see photos of trees and write to me, “I see your nymphs frolicking.”
Your work often explores deeper themes of power, female representation, and objectification. How do you approach these complex topics in your art?
The nymphs in my pieces are always an “idealized female form.” Actually, they are “hyper idealized and hypersexualized.” It’s almost like a flower in its prime, and how beautiful they are and how we cherish them when they are in their perfect bloom. I’m actually one of those people who keeps flowers in vases way too long because I like the way it looks when the petals start to fall off and the flowers start to droop. But as a society, we don’t celebrate that much. These nymph photos are a reflection on why we celebrate youth and idealized versions. And these girls are trapped in this moment of beauty forever. But there’s always an undercurrent of, well, the Seasons will change, and time will march on. There’s always a subtle wind in each of my pieces blowing the girls in unseen directions.
As a multi-disciplinary artist, you engage in graphic design, mixed media, and sculpture. How do these different mediums allow you to express your artistic vision, and do you find certain mediums more conducive to exploring specific themes?
I love playing with materials. I think Jerry Saltz once said, “you don’t have to stay in your lane,” and I was so happy to read that because Boom, I like to switch lanes a lot. When you work on the nymph pieces you start to get “girl blind” lol. All you see are little female forms everywhere even when you take your eyes off the computer. Working with my hands on gold leaf pieces or concrete hearts allows me a break from the worlds I create. Yet I infuse similar concepts. To me, the lockets in the concrete hearts are what the millions of girls in my pieces are thinking. And the same way in the nymph pieces you’ll always see something different, in the concrete heart locket pieces, you’ll always read something different and be brought into a different story.
In your exploration of themes like fetishism and objectification, you maintain an ironic and cheerful tone. How do you balance this playfulness with the deeper complexities of the topics you address in your artwork?
I think the best way to show a serious theme is to do so with irony. I once created a room installation called “Do They Hear a Sound…” which was a pink room of tree nymphs that looked happy and glorious. Then, as you got closer to the piece, you realized engraved on all the trees were “me too” quotes and quotes from “Trump” and “Weinstein,” and some people would leave the room with a smile on their face, saying “wow, that was beautiful,” and others would say “heartbreaking” or “devastatingly beautiful.” It’s easy to be dark. It’s easy to be light. But to shadow darkness in the light not only highlights the darkness and the light separately, but also creates some hope for an answer or salvation from the dark.
In what ways do you navigate the challenge of avoiding clichés in your artwork while still exploring universal themes and emotions?
I think you can take something, for example, an idea of a heart, which is a cliche. And still make it your own so that it does something unique. When I first started working with the hearts, everyone said, “ugh it’s such a cliche shape.” But when you tear it open and fill it with dozens of lockets that say pornographic things, poetic things, things from diaries and news outlets and social media…instead of cliche of most engraved words like “breath” “love” “peace” “serenity” you get real thoughts and emotions, like “i need a xanax,” or “do i look bald in this photo?” or “some say the world will end in fire”…from a favorite poem of mine.
Your artwork juxtaposes elements of masculinity and femininity, particularly through the use of minimalistic lines and colors like onyx and gray. What inspired this contrast?
I knew when I was using hearts that are so iconically pink and feminine, they needed to look like they had weight and heft. And even though they were floating in space like a heart should, these ones I wanted to look heavy. Hence, I used the concrete and the more grayscale colors to contrast the Platonic ideal of a big pink girly puffy heart.
Can you discuss the process of creating your heart sculptures, from initial conception to the final design? How did you balance meticulous planning with allowing for unexpected creative discoveries?
First, I created a heart in 3D with the correct lines in it. I wanted a puffy heart but one that was very deliberate in its shape. We created a mold from that. I design all the hearts in Photoshop first, showing where I want the lockets to be placed, and what color the interior and exterior of the heart will be. Then, you place the lockets in the mold as best you can, but what happens is a bit of magic. Like baking a cake. You can create the recipe, but each time it will taste different. When you unmask the mold, you see what happy accidents the concrete and the raw materials created, versus what you intended. It’s a collaboration, really, with the materials.
The heart sculptures in your exhibition are described as embodying both feminine symbolism and universal human experiences. How do you balance these elements in your artwork?
Well, I am a female, so I have a lot of experience being a girl. But I think the nymph pieces are more than just a feminist statement. I think the overarching story is “what happens when the wind blows?” What do you do? Do you hold on to the tree for support? Are you with your friends or by yourself? Do you let yourself fall into the wind and into the unknown? As all Seasons change in our life, we have to grapple with how we blossom, how we fall from that tree, and how we get back up and grow again.
How do you see your artistic vision evolving in the future, and are there any new themes or mediums you’re excited to explore in your upcoming works?
I love doing room installations. So I see myself doing more of those where I wallpaper the rooms and make more experiential rooms. I also want to explore the concrete and lockets more but not in the shapes of hearts, in more raw shapes and forms. Also, love to work on 3D sculptures. Basically, explore any materials I haven’t yet played with or challenged myself with. That includes painting, which I hadn’t done in ages but started doing again recently. Maybe you’ll see some. Or maybe I’ll just keep for myself. Not sure yet. But having fun exploring.
The interview was conducted by Michelle Armand.
