Marcus Jansen (1968, New York/USA) has been redefining urban landscape paintings for over the last ten years.
In 1985 Jansen is encouraged to attend the Berufsfachschule for Design by his father, but becomes bored and decides to join the US Army in 1989 and is immediately after basic training deployed to the first Gulf War in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Upon Jansen’s return he is promoted to Sergeant, Noncommission officer and is diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, from his combat tour. He is sent to art therapy at Walter Reed Hospital for treatment. After a stint in South Korea and Germany, Jansen decides to discharge and take on another perhaps most challenging profession, the visual arts.
In 2001, a call from New Yorks Stricoff Fine Art Gallery in Chelsea New York, get’s his work in to his first New York City showcase and representation. After shows alongside Robert Rauschenberg, Art Historian Jerome A. Donson, who worked at MOMA New York, The Guggenheim and the Long beach Museum as director and exhibition coordinator working closely with action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg and Franz Kline, decides to mentor Jansen and writes the foreword to he first book Modern Urban Expressionism the Art of Marcus Antonius Jansen released in Paris, France. Shortly after, Jansen is picked up by several Museum collections such as the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas. Soon after, Jansen is selected for the 12th International Biennial in Taiwan and has work placed in the New Britain Museum of American Art as well as the Moscow Museum of Modern Art after inclusion in “Dialogues” 8th Biennial in St Petersburg. In 2010, the first documentary is filmed locally in Fort Myers at Jansen’s 7000 sqft studio. In 2011 he has been selected for the next Generation of ABSOLUT VODKA artists like in the past artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Damien Hirst. Jansen’s work can be been seen at Art Basel Miami Beach’s annual art trade fairs such as Art Chicago, Art Hamptons, Art LA and can be viewed in Museum collections such as The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, The Moscow Museum of Modern Art, (MMOMA),The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art as well as The New Britain Museum of American Art. Jansen's work continues to be published in various media, publications such as Forbes Magazine, New York Times, Art + Auction Magazine, The Kuwait Times, Art News and Art in America Magazine. His work has been included in Who's Who in American Art and Who's Who in International Art.
How has your work evolved over time, and what are the current topics that motivates you to paint?
My work is rooted in a resistance. A resistance to the "norm," a resistance to "conventional" painting, and a resistance to the transforming, world disorder. The shift of world power structures, increasing surveillance, and human isolation are some of the topics that inspire me, and of course the role the populous plays in these, during every gradual but fast transition. I am also influenced by "fictitious" movies like the Wizard of OZ or George Orwell's 1984, which I connect as parallels with today's modern emerging society and stories.
Do you use your art to touch upon social or political issues you feel strongly about?
Yes. It would be hard for me not to, living in the times we are today.
Has your time at the US Army influenced your work?
I think it would be safe to say that I would not be painting in this manner had I not experienced what I did. It may have given me a heightened sense of awareness or sensitivity to things in some instances, including the style of my current work.
You seem to be travelling regularly around the world. Would it be accurate to assume that you enjoy living out of a suitcase? What are the highlights for you of such journeys?
I used to, not so much anymore. I enjoyed the travels I made early on in my childhood and as a young adult. My current travels are more business related.
Does the response to your paintings vary significantly from country to country?
That is hard to say. When I am in Europe, I often have Europeans refer to my work as very "American," and in the United States, Americans often refer to my work as very "European." That may be a very interesting place to be, considering that I am a product of both places. Not surprising I guess...
How has your work evolved over time, and what are the current topics that motivates you to paint?
My work is rooted in a resistance. A resistance to the "norm," a resistance to "conventional" painting, and a resistance to the transforming, world disorder. The shift of world power structures, increasing surveillance, and human isolation are some of the topics that inspire me, and of course the role the populous plays in these, during every gradual but fast transition. I am also influenced by "fictitious" movies like the Wizard of OZ or George Orwell's 1984, which I connect as parallels with today's modern emerging society and stories.
Do you use your art to touch upon social or political issues you feel strongly about?
Yes. It would be hard for me not to, living in the times we are today.
Has your time at the US Army influenced your work?
I think it would be safe to say that I would not be painting in this manner had I not experienced what I did. It may have given me a heightened sense of awareness or sensitivity to things in some instances, including the style of my current work.
You seem to be travelling regularly around the world. Would it be accurate to assume that you enjoy living out of a suitcase? What are the highlights for you of such journeys?
I used to, not so much anymore. I enjoyed the travels I made early on in my childhood and as a young adult. My current travels are more business related.
Does the response to your paintings vary significantly from country to country?
That is hard to say. When I am in Europe, I often have Europeans refer to my work as very "American," and in the United States, Americans often refer to my work as very "European." That may be a very interesting place to be, considering that I am a product of both places. Not surprising I guess...
