Jens Brasch
Artist Statement
My interests are philosophy, science, and art. My concept of art aligns with this quote from the art critic Arthur Danto. “Art works are embodied meanings. As such, they elicit from the viewers acts of interpretation designed to grasp the intended meanings they embody.” However, there are experiences that can be seen but not spoken. This is why I use art and text. They support each other and undermine each other. It is this ambiguity that I am trying to show. Art has a formative part in the manufacture of truth. Illusion, appearance, semblance, are all there is for humans. We perceive the world and construct our world out of the reflected light of semblance. Nothing else is visible. I try to understand experience by depicting it. I believe there is no absolute rightness or truth. We human beings are born into a context of cultural truths and the pursuit of those truths excludes other truths. Cognitive biases, heuristics (mental short cuts), and useful illusions can be reflected upon when shown in art objects. Art under modernism in the West has been largely self-conscious, asking the question “What is art?”. It may turn out that art that is about art is in fact trivial. Pluralism, inclusiveness, and larger human issues of life and death seem more relevant to the world we live in now, as it was in the past. Art will not solve our world but it may enlighten it.
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Jens Brasch was born in Hamburg Germany and moved to Illinois with his family when he was 7 years old. Jens received a Bachelor and a Master of Fine Arts from Northern Illinois University. He was a High School Art Teacher at Rolling Meadows High School in Rolling Meadows, Illinois from 1972 – 1976. In 1976 he moved to Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois where he taught and was head of the art department through 1999. Since then he has maintained a studio and has been at Bridgeport Art Center since 2001. Jens is a volunteer faculty member with the Mastery Foundation School for Leadership, an international school for adults working in their communities. He and his wife live in Chicago.
My interests are philosophy, science, and art. My concept of art aligns with this quote from the art critic Arthur Danto. “Art works are embodied meanings. As such, they elicit from the viewers acts of interpretation designed to grasp the intended meanings they embody.” However, there are experiences that can be seen but not spoken. This is why I use art and text. They support each other and undermine each other. It is this ambiguity that I am trying to show. Art has a formative part in the manufacture of truth. Illusion, appearance, semblance, are all there is for humans. We perceive the world and construct our world out of the reflected light of semblance. Nothing else is visible. I try to understand experience by depicting it. I believe there is no absolute rightness or truth. We human beings are born into a context of cultural truths and the pursuit of those truths excludes other truths. Cognitive biases, heuristics (mental short cuts), and useful illusions can be reflected upon when shown in art objects. Art under modernism in the West has been largely self-conscious, asking the question “What is art?”. It may turn out that art that is about art is in fact trivial. Pluralism, inclusiveness, and larger human issues of life and death seem more relevant to the world we live in now, as it was in the past. Art will not solve our world but it may enlighten it.
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Jens Brasch was born in Hamburg Germany and moved to Illinois with his family when he was 7 years old. Jens received a Bachelor and a Master of Fine Arts from Northern Illinois University. He was a High School Art Teacher at Rolling Meadows High School in Rolling Meadows, Illinois from 1972 – 1976. In 1976 he moved to Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois where he taught and was head of the art department through 1999. Since then he has maintained a studio and has been at Bridgeport Art Center since 2001. Jens is a volunteer faculty member with the Mastery Foundation School for Leadership, an international school for adults working in their communities. He and his wife live in Chicago.