| Ivan Jenson – An Artist's Biography | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ivan Jenson, a master painter and a true renaissance man of the twenty-first century. (Picture 1)
Ivan Jenson was born in California. His father was a journalist who had interviewed icons like Lenny Bruce and Carl Sandburg. His mother had a great affection for the music of Mozart. His parents decided to instill in their children a deep love of the fine arts (Picture 2 - painted at age 13). In the Jenson family, art was the higher power. Ivan's older sister, Dylana, (Picture 3) became a violin prodigy and won the silver prize at the Tchaikowsky competition in Moscow and played Carnegie Hall all before the age of seventeen (Picture 5). His other sister, Vicky, grew up to direct the classic Academy Award winning film, Shrek. As a young boy with a family so active, Ivan was determined to shine (Picture 4). His catch phrase from an early age was, "Watch me, watch me."
"S" is for sculpture. While leafing through the Encyclopedia Britannica, Ivan ran across the subject of "sculpture." He was instantly enthralled with the works of Michelangelo and Henry Moore, so much so that on his list to Santa that year Ivan demanded that he be given a ton of bronze under the Christmas tree. His family was humored by the possibility of bringing bronze into the house, but they took his interest in the visual arts seriously and provided him with sketchpads and art books about Picasso, Matisse and Chagall. During a trip to Costa Rica his sister Dylana was all set to perform solo with the symphony at the Teatro Nacional but Ivan's precocious energy seemed untamable. He was always getting into some sort of trouble. On the eve of her concert Ivan managed to fall into a landmark fountain in the center of San Jose. His flustered parents decided that the best way to channel his formidable energy was to send him to a local art school called Casa Del Artista. They figured he might get a chance to dabble in art. In the Academy he was presented with some clay and, within two hours, he created the breakthrough sculpture which he gave the Spanish title of "Renacimiento" (Picture 6). This sculpture, which forecasted the angst of youth, startled the faculty so much that they showed it to the Minister of Culture and it was chosen for the poster of the National Exhibit that year. Upon seeing this sculpture, the professor of fine art at UCLA wrote, "A breakthrough at any age." Ivan was nine years old. (Picture 7) & (Picture 8)
At the age of ten Ivan was again sent to Costa Rica where he produced the "Portrait of an Old Man" (Picture 9), (Picture 10), & (Picture 11) a passionate sculpture which depicts the moment when a man looks back and surveys his life. The sculpture is reminiscent of the slaves created by Michelangelo.
The Los Angeles Times called Ivan a "master sculpture." Ivan was obsessed with the works of Michelangelo and would spend hours of his time watching films about his favorite artist that he rented from the library. Jenson took up fiction writing at the age of twelve and was already writing movie reviews for the Valley News and Green Sheet in California. His father sent a short story Ivan had written to Ray Bradbury to which the great writer responded in a letter to Ivan stating, "You write better than I did till I was thirty." At the age of thirteen, Ivan again visited Costa Rica for the summer season and it is from his vivid experiences and encounters abroad that Ivan was to write, upon his return, a powerful coming-of-age novel called "Walking Wounded." which was described as "raw and brutal" and an editor for Delecort Press called it, "Catcher in the Rye times five." At the age of 13, he created a powerful bust of his novelist grandfather "Jorge Cardona" (Picture 12) amongst other works like the clay, "River God" (Picture 14)
Ivan and his family moved to the Midwest where his sister could study at the prestigious music department at Indiana University. Ivan was to publish stunning poetry throughout the Midwest (Picture 15, Picture 16, Picture 17, Picture 18, & (Picture 19). He also began songwriting. When the family moved to New York (Picture 20). In Bloomington, Indiana, Ivan completed a sculpture of David Bowie at the age of 16 (Picture 21). Ivan left high school to pursue his dream and he performed at CBGB's, Kenny's Castaways, and worked with some of the foremost New York studio musicians. Ivan's teens were spent in a whirlwind of songwriting and live performance. But, at the age of twenty-one, he was to do something that would change his destiny.
On a whim he decided to take some of his original artwork on paper to the streets of New York (Picture 21). He hung them with clothespins on a line in Times Square circa ninety eighty-five just to see what would happen. Within an hour he had sold out everything (Picture 22). A New York couple told him he was the "next Keith Haring." But, Ivan did not know who Haring was, neither was he aware of the art boom looming on the scene in the early eighties. The next night a couple purchased all his work and took him to dinner, toasting to his future as "a great artist." This is when Jenson learned he was onto something with his art (Picture 23).
Jenson's first patron was Miss Alice Tully, of Alice Tully Hall in New York City. She truly believed in his early display of talent. His next major sponsor was Gil Cohen, owner of the most famous mens' clothing store in SoHo in the eighties, Mano-A-Mano (Picture 24-32). Mr. Cohen purchased every painting in Jenson's studio overlooking Central Park West and prominently displayed them in his famed store that catered to Jean-Michel Basquiat and other celebrities.
Jenson longed to be a part of the art boom and his chance was now to come…a large-scale painting was needed for a Henry Grethal fashion show at the most famous nightclub in the world, the Palladium. Jenson was commissioned by Henry Grethal to paint his first large-scale work. This ten foot by ten foot painting, "Man of the Eighties" (Picture 33 & Picture 34) was featured alongside paintings by Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, Kenny Sharf, Keith Haring and Andy Warhol. Fate would have it that a Whitney Centennial event took place at the Palladium and the SoHo weekly spotted this theatrical and stylized painting and wrote "Ivan Jenson – downtown's fastest rising star." What is amazing is that Ivan created this memorable painting in one night and his mother had to sew two canvasses together to create the surface. At the time, things were happening so fast that Jenson's mother stretched his canvasses and his father photographed all his early work (Picture 35, Picture 36, Picture 37, & Picture 38). Ivan Jenson has never stretched a canvas and never owned an easel, preferring, like Modigliani, to paint on chairs propped up against a wall (Picture 39). The painting "Man of the Eighties" is Jenson's first masterpiece in the colorism style. The painting depicts an idealization of a modern man who, as displayed at the top of the Palladium, looked like he was looking out over an ecstatic sea of dancing humans.
In keeping with the trend of artist self-promotion of the eighties, Jenson was his own public relations persona as well and the story of his meteoric rise to the cream of the crop of the art world was profiled on the New York Channel 2 News and he was called "one of New York's most promising people." Next, Jenson was to perform live with his band (Picture 39c & Picture 39d) as well as memorably exhibit his art at the Limelight. The evening was a sensation.
Nightclub owners from Miami discovered Jenson selling on West Broadway and made a proposition…they paid him many thousands of dollars to produce his first one-man show while they simultaneously renovated a space on East 10th Street and Avenue A, at the very center of the East Village art market. And so, while the gallery was created from scratch, Ivan amazingly created all the paintings for his debut show in a matter of two weeks. Ivan Jenson's debut show at the SR Rage Gallery was a downtown smash. In attendance was author of Slaves of New York, Tama Janowicz and Bret Easton Ellis (Picture 40), author of American Psycho. The exhibit was featured on New York Channel 5 News as well as on Nippon News in Japan. Jenson's show was glowingly reviewed on the front page of Artspeak magazine and they wrote, "If the East Village had two more artists like Ivan Jenson, it would be known for its artists rather than its gallery owners." On TV, Ivan was interviewed in the trademark outfit he was known to wear...black boots, black jeans, and a tux which he had hand-painted on the back.
Ivan was a one-man factory. He had solo shows at the Sixth Sense Gallery and Tradition 3000. And the infamous tour of art events at every hot New York City nightclub, legendary clubs like "The World," "The Saint," "Octagon," "Cat Club," "Area." (Picture 41-47). He was written up on page six of the New York Post for drawing on Melissa Gilberts' back. And, his painting was seen in Newsweek magazine alongside Bob Guccione, Jr. and Spike Lee.
Jenson was commissioned to paint two giant murals for what is known as the greatest nightclub New York had ever seen called the Sound Factory which featured, DJ Junior Vasquez. He painted two large-scale masterworks called, "Dance-o-rama" for this club and later these images were silk-screened onto fashion tees that sold worldwide (Picture 48 & 49). At the time it seemed that everybody who was anybody had attended an Ivan Jenson event. His artistic energy and his lightening bolt productivity were everywhere. Jenson even had an exhibit at LA's famous Vertigo Club which was presented by the prestigious Robert Berman Gallery. (Picture 50-55).
Absolut Jenson
Jenson was to have many legendary artistic encounters which led to some memorable artwork. One such encounter was when Ivan Jenson was at a popular East Village bar and he chanced to meet Malcolm Forbes who was enjoying an evening with Phyllis Diller. Jenson noticed that no one was interacting with the two of them so he walked right up and introduced himself. To demonstrate his talent for Forbes, Jenson drew on the back of a fashion model's t-shirt. When Malcolm Forbes saw how quickly Jenson created his art he quipped, "You're better than Picasso." They struck up a legendary friendship that resulted in Jenson being invited onto the Forbes Highlander yacht where he did his trademark "Neon" portraits of a virtual who's who of corporate America. Jenson was an instant hit and was invited aboard by Forbes countless times (Picture 104) (Picture 105).
One afternoon, Jenson even painted a portrait of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. Malcolm Forbes asked Ivan to paint his portrait and, as it turned out, this became the last commissioned portrait of the great Malcolm Forbes (Picture 58).
One day Ivan woke up inspired and decided to paint his version of the Marlboro Man. And so, he did. In one hour's time he created a stunning depiction of this icon. He called up the Phillip Morris Corporation himself and asked them for just five minutes of their time. They agreed and he brought the four foot by four foot painting to them by subway. One look at it and they offered to purchase this painting for a record price. They dubbed the painting "The American Cowboy" (Picture 59).
Jenson did a particularly original and memorable art event on World Yacht (PIcture 60) with an after party at Mars where Jenson collaborated on a series of drawings with Keith Haring as cameras flashed.
One day when Jenson was selling on West Broadway, Jean-Michel Basquiat rode his bike up to Jenson and told him that he had started his career selling in the same spot and wished him all the best. Peter Max also stopped by and told Jenson, "One day you will have a major breakthrough." Jenson encountered Andy Warhol (Picture 61-63) and upon seeing Jenson's art, Andy simply said in his famous deadpan voice, "that's great." Kip Forbes also presented Jenson's one-man show at the Michael Ingbar Gallery in SoHo. The opening night was attended by hundreds (Picture 90).
Jenson was also introduced to leading pop artist Roy Lichtenstein through a mutual friend Herb Nass, prominent lawyer and author of the book The Wills of the Rich and Famous and Jenson was to paint a striking portrait of Roy Lichtenstein. In the nineties Jenson decided to get back in touch with his roots by taking his art back to the streets of SoHo (PIcture 64-66) where he would stun fellow artists by showing up sometimes as late as three in the afternoon. When Jenson began to do his trademark portraits, a crowd would form that was so large, the police would have to break it up. Jenson would promptly sell out of all his paintings in under an hour and return to his studio. (Picture 67).
In the nineties Jenson survived the changes in the art world that left many others in the dust. Jenson was to have many legendary encounters. One such meeting was with Jonathan Larson, the Tony award winning creator of Rent. Jenson painted a portrait of him and as he painted, Jonathan shared his dreams of fusing the East Village artist plight into a rock musical based on La Bohme. This portrait of Jonathan Larson hangs in the Jonathan Larson corporate offices now. Tony award winning actress Adina Menzel (of Wicked and Rent fame) approached Jenson long before she became famous on the Broadway stage to draw her for an invitation to her singing showcase. She even sang for him in his studio on East 12th (Picture 68-70). Jenson told her she was destined to become famous and she predicted the same for him. Jenson also painted Lisa Edelstein, known at the time as Lisa E. (who now stars on the hit TV show House) when she was a fixture in the New York downtown art scene. A drawing he did of her was displayed in a profile about her New York City celebutant days in New York Times magazine. Jenson also befriended the founder of the world famous rock group, The Cars. Ric Ocasek was a frequent collector of Jenson's work.
Jenson traveled to Sweden then to Rome in the nineties to at last see face to face the work of Michelangelo. During this time he also painted the portrait of the CEO of Aveda products and Belinda Carlyle of the GoGo's. In the year 2000 there was a dot com resurgence of collectors excited by his artwork. He traveled to Paris and Brazil and wrote the novel, Ben's Affirmation. After "9-11" Jenson persevered and, to many during those trying times, he represented what was most loved about New York. Millions of people from around the world have encountered a bold Ivan Jenson painting. In the year 2004 Jenson suffered a crisis of spirit and, it seemed for a moment, his fire might burn out. "I felt like some force had come over me, telling me it was time for a change." Jenson took a hiatus from the art world and moved out of New York to concentrate on his literary efforts. Jenson also traveled to Rio to "walk along Copacabana and to do some recharging and soul searching." When he came back he thought he would take a straight job. He took a training class and at the end wrote a song for the class. The company purchased the jingle for their national ad campaign. "I thought I would conform to nine to five, but my songwriting ended up being the thing they wanted." "I was a New Yorker and didn't even have a driver's license so I got one." Then, sure enough, the fire returned. After reading some of Jenson's poetry his sister, Vicky Jenson (of Shrek fame) asked him to write an indie comedy about the family. Within five months, she was delivered a finished script called Quartet about a group of musicians who were prodigies and are re-engaged to play Carnegie Hall fifteen years later. Vicky Jenson plans to direct this film written by her brother. On a roll, Jenson wrote a novel called How to Marry a Superstar about a regular Joe who survives a near death experience and while recuperating in a small town falls in love with a Hollywood actress who is shooting on location in Middle America. Jenson has just finished a powerful new psychological drama set in the art world called Seeing Soriah that Jenson is most proud of. The shocking and passionate story is of an art dealer representing his father's art and who must live with a violent family tragedy in his father's past on the cusp of a major retrospective of his art. Jenson paintings were now selling at major auction houses. Two examples are Christie's New York, Lot 134, March 16, 2006 (Picture 101) and Bonhams & Butterfields, Lot 4058, June 30, 2002 (Picture 100).
Jenson's milieu is unconcerned with the trappings of technologies of today. His bold style dips into the past and reaches for the future. His art, steeped in classicism with images of humanistic aesthetic beauty, have a visceral effect on the viewer, "what most impresses me about Jenson's work," Nagdeman says, “is his unparalleled versatility. He paints with equal skill employing thick color-drenched brushstrokes as effectively as he works in his graphic colorism style. He is totally spontaneous and has no self-consciousness at all. Sometimes it is as if he goes crazy and captures that intensity." (Picture 71 & 72).
Jenson also has an uncanny ability and sleight of hand when it comes to line drawing. He is able, with few lines, to express images of loneliness, love and whimsy, as well as, unique images of faces that are reminiscent of the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci. There is no doubt that Jenson is a master draftsman and that this is the core of his artistic talent. Jenson's pastels (Picture 73-77) show ability with shade and contrast and a softness of texture which display that his technique surpasses expectation of any formal training.
Jenson's art is unpretentious. He has no need to arbitrarily shock in order to grab the viewer's attention. You look at his art like you would notice a passing beauty on the street. You notice his art like you notice the features of a stranger on a subway and, for a brief moment, you fall into its enchantment. Jenson's art is timeless. He is like a trapeze artist who is so daring he has no need for a net. Jenson's art references Picasso to Van Gogh, impressionism to fauvism and in his expressionistic work we see flashes of Kockoshka and Soutine. Jenson is also talented at painting icons of art history. One of the subjects he comes to time and time again. A personal forte is his powerful depictions of the face of Vincent Van Gogh. Jenson can relate to Van Gogh's plight having experienced first-hand what it means to lead an artist's life in the modern world (Picture 78 & 79).
Jenson's East Village studio on Twelfth Street was a Parisian-style flat with twenty-five foot high ceilings. He truly lived the bohemian life and hundreds of visitors and collectors visited this amazing space. Most collectors were stunned by the large-scale paintings that he was able to produce in this setting. Jenson has sold to collectors from all over the world and they all predicted great things to come. It is rare to discover in the twenty-first century an artist with Jenson's purity of vision and versatility of style. When you visit Jenson's studio, you are instantly overwhelmed by his fiery productivity. Ivan Jenson is a world-class artist. In the eighties he glittered at the galleries, clubs (Picture 80 & 82), and fashionable clothing stores. In the nineties, he deepened his art to include thicker paint and a more somber expression. Now, Jenson has proven to be transcendent of mere trends of fancy. His artistic statement power lies in the sheer visual poetry of his portraits, his ability to capture a look in the eye, or a gesture, he speaks the universal language, a language in love with humanity in all its rainbow colors.
Ivan Jenson today (Picture 007) is one of the last thriving survivors of his contemporaries (Picture 036). Jenson, who has never been one to follow trends, has stayed the course and his crystallized vision is at its peak, more vivid now than ever because of its new found maturity, and universality (Picture 013). In recent years Jenson works have been selling primarily to private collectors. (Picture 023).
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