Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Jennifer Thoreson’s Surreal, Intimate Photographs

In constructing her photographs, Jennifer Thoreson creates abstract objects and a curated space for her models to dwell. The result are works that are at once intimate and surreal, her crafted amorphous accessories extensions of the figures’ humanity. In the series “Testament,” the artist subverts everyday scenes with something darker and revealing.

In constructing her photographs, Jennifer Thoreson creates abstract objects and a curated space for her models to dwell. The result are works that are at once intimate and surreal, her crafted amorphous accessories extensions of the figures’ humanity. In the series “Testament,” the artist subverts everyday scenes with something darker and revealing.

“I am attracted to vulnerability, to peeling back a skin that reveals something precious, dark, and tender,” the artist says. “I am drawn to moments where people are on an edge, barely laced together, befriending disaster, remembering something, or exposing something. Testament explores themes of both resilience and dependency; it illustrates the heavy burdens we perpetually carry, and the relentless yearning for release.”

See more of her work from the series below.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Born on the island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean, artist Gilles Barbier is most well-known for his series of aging super heroes. In "L'Hospice," a grey-haired Wonder Woman with sagging breasts and square hips cares for Captain America, who attached to an IV, lies bloated and incapacitated on a gurney. In another corner, a wrinkled Cat Woman sleeps in front of the TV, while next to her, a deflated and anemic hulk sits comfortably in a wheelchair. Like all of Barbier's works, most of which feature his own self-portrait, "L'Hospice" uses the absurd to reflect on the darker and more difficult themes of aging and the collapse of dreams and ideals.
Akishi Ueda’s surreal sculptures meld creatures and structures in unexpected ways. The artist pulls from both fantasy and science in building his clay creations. And around each corner of the piece comes a surprising bit of life, tucked inside the contours of his strange animals.
Kim Keever's photographs may look like documentation of natural phenomena from another planet, but the artist painstakingly constructs minuscule photo sets inside a fish tank in his studio to achieve his highly detailed, abstract images. As clouds of dense pigment unfurl in the water, Keever zooms in to capture every undulating shape. The tiny explosions become awe-inspiring tornadoes of paint in his resulting work. We previously interviewed the artist here on the blog back in 2011, and today we take a look at his newest work.
Korean sculptor Xooang Choi's sculptures of bodies and imaginary creatures are often described as hyper-realistic, but they are also surreal in their elements of fantasy and nightmarish distortion. We've featured both his most imaginative and more graphic visions on our blog, sculptures that explore themes of destruction, transformation and re-assemblage. To Choi, the body is a vessel through which we perceive and express ourselves, and one that provides him with an ideal medium to explore the possibilities of the human condition.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List