Jenn Mann

Home: Mississauga, Ontario
Title: Cotton Candy
Media: Oil on canvas / huile sur toile
Dimensions: 122 x 117 cm
Website: www.jenmann.com

My work mainly involves the human face and figure, focusing on ideas of existentialism, beauty and identity. In my series of works Strange Beauties – to which Cotton Candy belongs – I am interested in our objection as a society to awkwardness. By using honest or unflattering images of my subjects, I examine beauty and our aversion to strangeness as a starting point to my search for magic in the idea of bad or wrong. Inspired by the circus, illusions, dreams and the innocence and playfulness of childhood, Strange Beauties explores beauty and its fringes. Capturing sincere moments with my subjects while casually hanging out in my studio, the paintings in this series evoke a naïve and unfiltered sense of beauty akin to that experienced in childhood. Using color and saturation to foreground elegant and alluring elements in otherwise odd and un-glamorous images. The combination of color, gesture, and facial expression works to create a deep sense of intimacy and honesty amidst the surreal candy colored images.

REPRESENTATION:
Neubacher Shor Contemporary (NSC),Toronto, Ontario

EDUCATION:
2009 OCAD BFA- Printmaking

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Feb 2013 Strange Beauties – NSC,Toronto
2012 Gathering of the Psyche – Communication Gallery, Toronto
July, 2012 Daydream Believer – NSC,Toronto

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Sept 2010 Highly Contagious – Gallery Hijinks, San Francisco
March 2010 Nature Noir – Mahan Gallery, Columbus OH, USA
Feb 2013 Animal in Me – Subtext Gallery, San Diego USA

AWARDS:
2007 2nd year award for studio excellence – Printmaking, OCAD
2008 Duncan Macpherson Award – Drawing & Painting, OCAD
2009 Curries Art Store Prize- Printmaking 4th year, OCAD