JENNIFER R. A. CAMPBELL is a Canadian artist based in Washington, D.C. She studied sociology at Bishops University, art history at Carleton University and studio art at The Ottawa School of Art. An avid consumer of visual culture, her influences are wide-ranging and draw from sources as diverse as Northern Renaissance art, comics, contemporary advertisement and film. Continuing a dialogue with painting’s long history, she borrows and transforms older themes and techniques while remaining rooted firmly in the present.
Set in fictitious landscapes, these flickering vignettes involve characters cast from both the leisure class and the fringes of society. Comedy and tragedy mingle with satire and nonsense in ambiguous, yet suggestive narratives that call attention to the absurdity of human existence. Only the landscape backdrops are harmonious and well-ordered. Nature - beautiful and indifferent - offers no comment on the tragedies unfolding in the discordant and chaotic world of humanity.