DANCE: bodies in motion

A photo exhibition by Jene Youtt

December 6, 2008 - January 29, 2009

Opening Reception> Saturday, December 6, 2008

6:00pm-9:00pm

Artist Statement

A body bound, a body free…  a concept.

DANCE: Bodies in motion.

My work is about expressing emotion through the experience of color and motion of the human form.

It is my hope that you feel the joy and want to join in on dancing or singing, which are a special part of us as human beings.

It is through the abstract that we can clearly see another possibility. Removing the constrains of our minds, the old stories of our youth and allowing us to dream freely, new or old dreams, to touch a different reality available to each and every one of us is our right. To live free……

To dance, to live, to love.

Artist Bio

I am a self-taught artist working in photography and print making. As a teenager I began drawing and working in water- colors until I joined the Army at 17 and went to Munich Germany.

Exposed in Europe to the museums and fine arts was a major education that influenced my later work in oil painting I was always interested in light and it’s effect on objects. To earn a living and pay for my painting materials I worked in off-Broadway theater, first as an electrician then as a technical director. I continued studying with local painters who shared their critiques of my work as I worked with them in their studios. I spent most of my free hours wandering through New York’s museums taking it all in.

I became a freelance Lighting Designer, designing plays and dance concerts for various productions. I worked in that field through many different mediums, from modern and ballet dance companies, theater, live music touring before graduating years later to network television where I worked for almost every major network in the USA. I was awarded two lighting Emmy’s for my work.

But my true love was always in my own personal work of painting and photography. For years I was happy to crawl around in the dirt taking pictures of flowers and scenics. But I missed my people, flowers are wonderful but people are more important to me.

I enjoy the interaction and creativity of working with people. Dancers have a special place in my heart. We share a vibrancy and love of form combined with movement that comes across in my work. My intent is to capture the form of dance and project that restraint or freedom to the viewer as we all struggle with these patterns in our lives. I use color as an emotional expression along with movement to show our possibilities.

So it is with the dancers, my subjects that my long term studies in color motion and form are developing. Although I still go back to where I began, to the flowers and landscapes that bring a wonder and pause to our lives.

I want to capture and share those moments that give us a chance to pause and remember why we live.

Jene Youtt