IT sounds like something out of a cheesy Hallmark movie, but the power of love got Jenny Jigour through a tumultuous period in her life and was the catalyst for her latest exhibition Mystical Elements.
After being holed up in the remote mountains of California during covid, Jigour was feeling pretty isolated, but things got worse when she left her friends and family behind and moved with her husband to Fremantle in 2022.
A period of homesickness ensued and you could have forgiven Jigour for sinking into a depression, painting dark brooding Francs Bacon-style portraits, but instead the artist embraced the power of love with a series of vivid, dream-like works.
• (below) Love is Divine by Jenny Jigour, aka The Artist with the Golden Paintbrush. photo by Zest Photography
“After moving here [Fremantle], I took a deep dive into psychology and I wanted to understand all sorts of things—dream work is part of it—but also various personalities”, Jigour says.
“I got into understanding the psychology behind integrating the shadow, and for me that really enriched my feelings about the concepts of love, the energy of love and once I started getting into it, I wanted to build a body of work that expressed love and sexuality in a way that was more informed than I had ever done before.”
As well as the colourful dream-like paintings, there are some darker works like Cave, which explore the more tragic side of Cupid’s arrow.
“I think from my experience, you have to see the dark side of love as in obsessive love,” Jigour says.
“Knowing that it isn’t actually love, but potentially manipulation, has been important for me.”
The exhibition will feature 23 acrylic, oil and watercolour paintings. Highlights include the intriguing Megalith, which was inspired by Jigour visiting the Standing Stones of Stenness in Orkney, Scotland.
“I wanted to spend more time there just to meditate and that’s actually why I did that painting,” she says.
For a lot of people, the upcoming Valentine’s Day has become a soulless, commercial abomination, but for Jigour it has a deeper, profound meaning that stretches back to childhood.
• More of Jenny Jigour’s dream-like paintings in her Freo exhibition Mystical Elements.
Her dad used to undertake “Valentine’s Day Projects” which started off small—a shadow box with a heart.
Over the years they grew into elaborate sets and productions that involved the whole family and became a celebration of love in general.
“It wasn’t something that was commercialised and I was never upset if I didn’t have a partner because I knew that I could celebrate in a way that was always fun,” Jigour says.
“It was always a celebration of some other kind of love, even if it wasn’t what other people expected.”
A painter for more than 25 years and originally from San Jose in California, Jigour has a substantial body of work behind her.
Her artwork has been shown across the globe including the Seattle Erotic Art Festival and Erotic Art London, and she wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, Secret Agent Moscow, which was named one of the Top Twelve LGBT Graphic Novels by the Advocate in the US.
Mystical Elements is her debut as an artist in Australia.
She lives in the heart of Freo and is opening a gallery ‘Return to Paradise’ on Marine Terrace, which will showcase her work and group exhibitions.
The artist has an interesting moniker—The Artist with the Golden Paintbrush: “I’m a big fan of Ian Fleming, who wrote James Bond, and I visited his old house in Jamaica and sat behind his gold typewriter.”
Mystical Elements is at Found and Sorted Real Estate, 138 South Terrace in Fremantle all February. Jigour will give a special artist’s talk on Valentine’s Day at 2pm. For more info see jenniferjigour.com.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK