Jeremy Pinc

Artist Statement 2009

What do I care about in Art? What do I believe in? Painting, for me, is a kind of discipline, not unlike yoga or jiu-jitsu. It is a way of tuning oneself, as one might tune a guitar or a lute. That the images turn out beautiful or powerful is only one part of the whole. The whole story can never be told. Or rather, the whole story will be told in spite of the artist’s wishes and guidance. There is always something behind me that is revealed which I cannot comprehend. It is the deeper me.

Children have a great aptitude for drawing. Representing that which is around us
with visual language is natural for us, comes naturally to us. The painter can connect with other painters across time and space. This is how strong his language is. I have always sought to learn from the masters. Giants like Rembrandt, Giotto, Velazquez, Miro… What would my life be without them? I would have no friends, no compatriots!

My work takes me far from my home in rural Wisconsin. Emerson said, “Nothing is impassable to the soul, but all things are pervious to it and like highways, yet this is only whilst the soul does not see them.” The painter has the keenest eyes but also the greatest blindness. I see my surroundings with great interest but then paint from within
myself a world that exists nowhere else, and I could not say which is the more real of the two.

With this in mind the great mystery of the world is opened up and revealed. That, I might say, is the goal of my painting—my artist’s statement—to open up the world’s mystery for myself and others to witness. For what is the truth if not a beautiful fiction and what is the world if not a wonderful mystery!

Jeremy Pinc

Biographical Information

Jeremy Pinc was born in Chicago in 1972 and lived in the suburb of Oak Park until leaving for college in Richmond, VA in 1990. There he graduated with a degree in Art History. Following college he returned to Chicago and began showing paintings at galleries in the Chicagoland area. In 1997 Pinc moved to Italy where he would live for the next year and a half. There he studied renaissance painting and also the classical sculpture held in the Vatican and Ufizzi museums. Since that time classical art has been a touchstone and recurrent theme in his diverse painting style. In 1999, soon after returning to Chicago, Pinc moved to Madison, WI and from there to Fort Atkinson, WI where he still lives. Since 2002, he has both curated and participated in numerous group shows in Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago He continues to paint and develop new techniques. The metamorphoses of his style are often beautiful and unpredictable, jumping from one apex to the next with a remarkable agility. Elements as disparate as American Folk Art, Chinese Calligraphy, Graffiti and Greek Vase Painting seem to blend into one unique vision within his oeuvre. His work is rapidly gaining notoriety in Wisconsin and is already in collections as far away as Japan, Mexico, Germany and Italy.
In addition to a life as a visual artist, Pinc also explores his world as a playwright and musician

Jeremy Pinc

Education:

University of Richmond, Graduated, B.A. Art History 1994

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Continuing education classes 1996

Lassallian Institute of Art, Vicchio Italy, Apprenticeship to Jerome Cox for bronze sculpture 1998-1999

Selected Solo Shows:

1996
Tia Jones Gallery Oak Park IL: Vision of Disrespect.
Stereo Studio Chicago: The Real Shit.
1997
Stereo Studio: Lessons from the Master.
Lassalian Institute of Culture, Vicchio Italia: Jeremy Pinc: Line Drawings From Antiquity.
1998
Lassalian Institute of Culture: Medusa of Man.
2002
King’s Foot Gallery Madison WI: Just Jeremy
2005
BucketWorks Milwaukee WI: Jute For the Coke Heads..
Living Room Gallery Chicago IL: Dad Dad Dad.
2006
Plan B Gallery Forest Park IL: Bananas: L’Arte Comique de Jeremy Pinc.
2008
Flying Pig Gallery and Greenspace Algoma WI: Like Red Riot.
Zen Gallery Cambridge WI: Here Comes the Sun

Mural Commissions and Awards:

2005
In Memory of John Claude Kraus
Mural project Fort Atkinson WI
2009
Lorine Niedecker Mural Commission
Fort Atkinson WI