By: Izabella Hotz and Destiny Cannon
February 7, 2020
This past Friday, artist Jessie Herzfeld opened her first solo art exhibition at the Art On Madison gallery with her collection named Illusions and Visions. The atmosphere was nice, and snacks were provided along with refreshments.
This collection is composed of poems by the french poet Rimbaud that she actualized into mixed media works. Each piece uses quite a few different mediums, including but not limited to paint, pencil, and stamps.
Overall, each work was visually appealing, and although complex, they followed the poems perfectly, depicting moods,themes, and visuals that were expressed in Rimbaud’s poems.
Each of the paintings was done twice, once with the french poem and another time translated into English, as she said she wanted everyone who sees her work to be able to fully enjoy it. She also displayed the concept art for certain sections of her works.
Characters and creatures found in the paintings were also displayed and sold, as well as full sizes of the works. Overall, the collection was clearly well-thought out and made with great care.
We asked Herzfeld how she wanted people to interact with her collection, and she told us, “I want them to engage with the poems in a way that they might not otherwise…having people slow down when they engage with it so that they’re really using their own imagination.”
She also explained that her collection was a way for her to express things in a dreamlike and fantastical way, which definitely opens up the imagination of anyone who sees her work.
Her advice for aspiring artists is, “Keep working at it, and don’t worry if what you’re doing is different than what you think things should look like.”
Viewing the gallery was a lot of fun, between the amazing narratives and the bold imagery. There were lots of things to look at and find in each painting, which did cause us to slow down and truly appreciate the art and the poems together.
Herzfeld did a fantastic job of marrying poetry and visual art in this collection, giving lots to discover and ideas to explore.
This collection is on display at the Art On Madison gallery located at 14203 Madison Avenue in Lakewood through Saturday, March 7.
THE RETURN OF THE EYE 