The Process of Subtraction – Paintings by American Artist Jen Wink Hays

So many creatives go through a process of adding and subtracting, usually in this order, so it’s interesting when these ideas are experimented with and played on. This usually happens to me but gradually with time and progress, taking quite a while to strip back leaving only the essentials. So I’m intrigued how this can be implemented in to the process itself, taking away as you work.

Jen Wink Hays is from Maine and now lives and works in the relative calm of Philadelphia with her husband, fellow painter and designer Tyler Hays. The American artist uses opaque oil paint to obscure earlier layers of colour and form, creating what she calls “a-story-within-a-story” experience. The layers allow her to explore the idea of concealing and revealing, both adding and taking away to reveal a story behind the piece.

Although the works are abstract they’re not conventional by any means, this method of obscuring gives them a unique twist that I’ve not seen before. Some even come across as pixelated because of the small bite-sized coloured squares. I hope you like these new works from Jen and will view more on her website linked below.

jenwinkhays.com

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