Jane in
Vain Winkelman
As a virtual canary
in the mineshaft, Jane
"in VAIN"
holds a mirror to the
cycle of homelessness, sexual exploitation of women and children,
as well as
the politics of exclusion and corporate exploitation in troubled
urban
America of the 21st century. Through emotional paintings with
haunting
imagery, the Miami artist depicts the cruel existence of living
alone,
frustrated, and troubled, trying in vain to deliver her message
before it is
too late.
Jane's message is not
subtle, but full of purpose. This is art as raw social
commentary made real by a life that knows few comforts or surprises.
The
former child of privilege turned San Francisco street hippie has
experienced
the pain of losing a stable family life to a world inhabited by
drug
dealers, con artists, and hopelessness. A true "outsider"
having lived a
brutal life of menial jobs, marginalized, and sometimes nearly
homeless,
Jane's life became every
mother's worst nightmare, but she persevered driven
by a clear-eyed notion that our shattered society can become a
better place.
Her intricate style springs from an emotional and deeply felt
vision, often
depicting herself as a Holocaust victim surviving a world inhabited
by
pimps, prostitutes, junkies and surreal monsters within a bleak
urban
landscape.
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The self-taught
artist has been widely recognized for her remarkable
technical skill and powerful imagery, with full-sized mixed medial
paintings
selling for thousands of dollars. Jane's astonishing work gained recognition
on covers of the Street Sheet, the San Francisco Homeless Coalition's
newspaper and lead to a commission for an Absolute Vodka ad that
was
exhibited along side works by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Leroy
Neiman in
the 1994 "Absolut Art Exhibit." Her work is featured
in the book CONTEMPORY
FOLK ART, A COLLECTORS GUIDE by Chuck and Jan Rosenak and SELF-TAUGHT,
OUTSIDER AND FOLK ART, A Guide to American Artists, Locations
and Resources
by Betty Carol Sellen, as well as The Online Investor Magazine.
The American
Visionary Museum's Error & Eros exhibit included her paintings
and she has a
piece on display in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American
Art. Jane
and her heartfelt artistic vision is currently profiled in a feature
article
by Ft. Lauderdale author/journalist Candice Russell in the Fall issue of Raw
Vision Magazine,
the leading international publication devoted to Art Brut,
intuitive creation, and art that lies just beyond the contemporary
mainstream.
Despite her many
accolades, Jane lives on a day-to-day
just keeping her head
above water by relying on sales of her small masterpieces and
the generosity
of patrons in an uncertain art market. Jane "in VAIN" art may make
you feel
uncomfortable, but there by the Grace of God and a couple of paychecks
lies
a possible future for many. It's life without a safety net. She
plunged
headfirst and it nearly cost her everything her youthful
beauty, relations
with family, her inheritance, and knowing where the next rent
check will
come from. But Jane willingly accepts
this price if only the world will
listen to the social message so painstakingly detailed in her
paintings.
Even for those who do not share her political worldview, Jane speaks to
middle Americans enjoying their air-conditioned comfort with a
steady voice
producing personally troubled, yet peculiarly beautiful works
full of vivid
color, life, hope, and imagination.
Some may even think her insane, but she is not. She is a veteran
of all that
society can perpetrate upon the powerless, reminding us that we
are not
always a compassionate urban society willing to value those who
are a little
different. Jane is not a day-tripper
Sunday artist, but a full time resident
that has paid the toll for clarity of vision that only an "insider"
who is
trapped forever outside can see.
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In
conjunction with the release of an article profiling the artist
in the
Fall issue of Raw Vision Magazine, a showing of her works titled
"Misfits,
Miscreants, and Malcontents The Imagery of Jane "in
VAIN" Winkelman" will
be on display at RaZoo
Gallery
in Ft. Lauderdale throughout the entire month
of October. Among the many works on display at RaZoo is Jane's latest
political social commentary "Enron," depicting a greedy
serpentine former
CEO Kenneth Lay, linked with other execs Fastow and Skilling,
slithering
above the innocent workers, energy consumers, and investors of
the American
village that were perversely affected by the scandal.
Article
in Vision Magazine
by
Candice
Russell
Tick Tock, Tick
Tock Goes the Doomsday Clock, 2002/2003, 29 x22 inches, acrylic and
mixed media on Arches paper, courtesy Lindsay Gallery, Columbus,
OH.
Political, aggressive,
and fiercely expressive of social issues, the paintings of Jane-in-Vain Winkelman
extend
the parameters of contemporary Outsider Art. 'People think the work is sweet,' says the artist
in her tiny Miami Beach, Florida apartment where she can sit on her bed and touch
her refrigerator. 'But
if they actually look, it says something.'
She's a missionary
with a paintbrush railing against government corruption, corporate
greed, Republicans like Newt Gingrich, and policies that further
limit the poor, of which she counts herself a member. Beyond her
images, she
uses
words to convey her grim sentiments. Her targets are clearly spelled
out, as in Beast of Retribution (1995): 'The ride for some especially
the rich is free upon the broken backs of fools like you &
me.'
Winkelman is a modern-day
Hieronymous Bosch, thrusting welfare mothers and other symbols
of desperation into competing tableaux within the same canvas. Her extended,
drawn out figures populate a free-floating world where the moral
imperatives are clear.
A
collection
of ills is portrayed in The Invading Infestation (2002), including
genetically modified food, ozone hole radiation, toxic pollution,
and anthrax. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 are referenced in Tick-Tock,
Tick-Tock Goes the Doomsday Clock (2003) that tags Tom Ridge as
head of the 'new department of homeland insecurities if
you're afraid, depressed, get in line.'
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'I
feel I have a right to complain,' says the artist. 'I have to be aware of the rest
of the world with over-population, over-pollution, and governments
that don't care about the common man. There's no affordable housing
or health care for people. Common decency has gone out of civilization.'
Critics
have compared her paintings to those of James Ensor, Edvard Munch,
Marc Chagall and George Grosz. There's a fancifulness and whimsy
to the way she draws the human figure. Yet there's also a plaintive
angst in almost every painting.
The Invading Infestation, 2002, 29 x 22 inches, acrylic and mixed-media
on Arches paper, courtesy Lindsay Gallery, Columbus, OH.
Winkelman sees a connection
to another painter-evangelist, the folk artist Howard Finster,
who thought the world's problems could be solved by belief in
God. 'He put out messages about how people treat each other, about
people with money not being so vulgar and giving to people in
pain,' she
says.
'I also relate a lot to Herbert Singleton who paints people on
drugs and killing each other.'
A strong colorist,
she seemingly delights in bold juxtapositions. Monsters with horns
and devilishly long tongues are commonly seen in her nightmarish
paintings. In The Corporate C.E.O. A Money Eating Maniac
(2002), a dragon worthy of a Chinese New Year parade with flaming
googly eyes sports a body with the names of troubled companies
including Enron, Tyco and Imclone. The plight of homelessness
is portrayed in Let Me Out (2002) in which the monster is the
woman crying for help. Out of her head and armpits come the limbs
of a more frantic female alter-ego. Their voices go unheard.
'The
people in my pictures are more real than I am,' says the artist.
She's not unknown. A
featured artist at Atlanta's Folk Fest in 1999, Winkelman had her paintings shown in the exhibition
'Love Profane Error and Eros' at the American Visionary
Art Museum in Baltimore. Exhibitions at the Levi Strauss headquarters
and at Tiffany's, both in San Francisco, as well as in galleries
and other public spaces, numerous critical articles and reviews
in newspapers and magazines, and growing numbers of private collectors
demonstrate ...
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contact
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(954) 663-3888
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