Scott James Jenkins

Region: MFA Annual

City / State: Lancaster, TX

My work is about many different things: playfulness, invention, myth, sadness, abuse, tragedy, philosophy, delight, rage, dreams, loss, family, and religion. What I find most interesting is the breadth and structure of visual language, and how one can arrive at a personal dialect that evolves from the vernacular. I have developed and cultivated my own vocabulary by interacting with mentors and peers inside and outside academia, reading, daydreaming—stubbornly refusing to accept things without question. In my work, I seek to mimic the dynamic experience, the surprise of discovery, the whimsy of invention, and the rich malleability of composition, all of which are embedded in the experience of nature. In examining these structures, understanding their forms and functions, and my position within them, I have been led to discover, and ultimately create, moments where purpose and meaning resolve into an unpredictable and elegant union.