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PaintingsDIRECT:
Much of your work depicts the New York City theatrical night life. What is it that attracts you to paint the 'drama' of New York?
Jessica Daryl Winer:
I have always been drawn to storytellers. In a world where so much is filmed and recorded, and can be called up at the touch of a button, there is a slice of life which is only passed down from person to person. The world of the performing arts is part of this slice. There is nothing quite like a live performance of something -- music, theatre or dance.
I always feel, as an audience member, that it is an experience that goes across centuries: people sitting watching other people tell stories about people. The idea that in our present world people will still go and buy a ticket to hear music or watch dancers is something I find very meaningful.
I found it telling that in New York in the time just after 9/11 movie attendance was very low, but all the theatres and concert halls were full. People wanted to be in a community, with other people, listening to stories or music in a way that humans have done since the beginning of time.
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Orchestra (1998)
Jessica Daryl Winer
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Empire State View (1999)
Jessica Daryl Winer
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PaintingsDIRECT:
You've said that you often begin an artwork by sketching the scene, even in a darkened theater.
Please explain how your process then progresses, and how you know when an artwork is complete?
Jessica Daryl Winer:
I always carry around a sketchbook and am constantly jotting down really quick, cursory sketches... I have many of these small books to look through at any given moment. I think the Van Gogh quote they use on the moleskin sketchbooks is true: "Sometimes there are sheets in a sketchbook which, although they are more or less scribbles, nevertheless have something to say." Just as I can look through my books and some "scribbles" sketch completely brings back the moment, and reminds me why I did it.
For me, everything is in the initial idea - to see it clearly in my head. Then depending on the subject I will decide whether to do it in watercolor or acrylic and what the size should be. As a painting goes on, things evolve, good and bad -- which of course is the challenge of it. But I always force myself to step away, so I can get back to the clarity of the initial idea.
As to the age old question of how do you know when the painting is finished, I am very aware of stopping sooner rather than later, as I hate when things are overworked. But actually, I usually have a pretty certain sense when it's finished - or at least when I'm finished.
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PaintingsDIRECT: How has your work and artistic approach evolved over time? Where do you hope it will take you in the future?
Jessica Daryl Winer:
I think my work has evolved and grown with me. I'm always working to see things better and more clearly, or to remember things and be able to draw from memory -- that's always my constant challenge. But I also see my art as something very much a part of myself, like my handwriting, so you could really say that at its core I don't think the essence of my work has changed all that much.
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Cabaret Singer (1995)
Jessica Daryl Winer
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Curtain Call (1991)
Jessica Daryl Winer
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PaintingsDIRECT:
We've recently noted in our Artists in the News column that your artwork "Sardi's Screens" is a permanent installation at the restaurant Sardi's in New York. Tell us how this came about, and the creation process for such a large and notable work.
Jessica Daryl Winer:
"The Sardi's Screens" which is a free-standing, 7-panel mural measuring 8' x 25', was unveiled in the banquet room of Sardi's restaurant in the Broadway theatre district this past January. But the Sardi's Screens were actually adapted from its original conception - the centerpiece of the Times Square Visitors Center in the restored Embassy Theatre on Broadway. Measuring 14' x 24', the acrylic-on-canvas "Curtain Call mural" depicts 200 legends of Broadway history from the last 100 years and was dedicated by Kitty Carlisle Hart.
After six years there (seen by an estimated 6 million viewers), the mural was taken down to make way for a high tech renovation of the Visitors Center. Friends in the Broadway community started searching for a new home for the mural. The problem of course was the enormous size - so when Sardi's showed me their banquet room with its much lower ceilings and told me their need for movable screens traversing the entire width of the room (allowing them to “size” the room as necessary), I jumped at the chance. I decided to cut up, collage and repaint the mural into a new incarnation that would give the art a new life in a place that really felt like its spiritual home.
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PaintingsDIRECT:
Of famous artists, living or deceased, who have most inspired you or influenced your work, and in what ways?
Jessica Daryl Winer:
The artists who have been connected to the theatre are some of the artists who I have also felt connected to: Manet, Toulouse Lautrec and also artists who also were involved with large scale works that surrounded the viewer, such as Matisse and Dufy. And I was always impressed with Chagall doing the ceiling at the Paris Opera and the sets for the Magic Flute at the Met. Also, John Marin, whose watercolors I greatly admire. But I have great respect for all the artists who have gone before me, and am happy to go as far back as the wall paintings in Pompeii, to Giotto and Bernini. I love to feel a part of a great tradition.
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Opera Box (1991)
Jessica Daryl Winer
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Tango Dancers (1993)
Jessica Daryl Winer
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PaintingsDIRECT:
What do you most hope the viewer will experience when viewing your art?
Jessica Daryl Winer:
I love the environment that art can create in a space. Art to me is like a living, breathing thing. A wall is just a wall, but when you put art onto it, it's like having another living thing in the room. I often am drawn to doing large scale works, or works that can be hung together, because I love to create an environment that the viewer can be pulled into.
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View more artworks by Jessica Daryl Winer ...
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