Jessica Cofrin

b. 1983

Jess Cofrin received her BA in Art History from Cornell University before moving to London to pursue fine art at Chelsea College of Art and Design. She completed her MFA in painting and printmaking from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited both domestically and abroad. She currently lives and works in Berkshire County, MA.

Artist Statement

“This is my home. This dark, bone black inner cave where I am making a world for myself.”

- bell hooks Bone Black

I make paintings and prints exploring concepts of the self through visual abstraction. My work is autobiographical in that I pull from my own psychological and emotional experiences. I wish to bring forward the complicated relationship I have with my self - the constant searching for my authentic self - to try to make clear what feels mysterious and unknowable. My current work deals with my own self identity as I took on the roll of motherhood. I am interested in the way I remember myself before having children and what my body, my desires, my passions felt like versus what they feel like now. I am exploring the abstract forms that are created when bodies merge and move together.

I am interested in the exploration of identity; how it shifts over time and is impacted by the spaces we occupy.  I believe humans are intrinsically tied to what surrounds us, and it shapes how we view ourselves and each other. As the youngest of three sisters, I became aware of the male gaze from a very young age and how the visual objectification of women and girls can impart lasting psychological damage. During my undergraduate studies in Art History, I focused my studies on the concept of the “other” and how western society “others” anyone who is not white and male. I studied art from the African Diaspora and Feminist Art where these themes of identity, personhood, and spiritualism were ever present. I draw upon these themes in my own work.

There have been several episodes in my life where I experienced a loss of the self, and I use my art to piece it back together. I think about my work within the metaphorical framework of wild carrot plants: they are biennial plants that bloom in their second year. When the flower appears, the taproot becomes poisonous and unsafe for consumption. The inner experience often remains hidden and underground for those, like myself, who suffer from depression and anxiety, and it can differ so much from the outward, above ground projection that others receive. Color plays an integral role in this process. I employ color to explore further emotional depths and frequencies. In this way color becomes a secondary subject in the work.

My influences range from the writers bell hooks, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, and Kate Chopin to artists Alice Neel, Carolee Schneeman, Maria Lasnig, Robert Motherwell, Joan Semmel, Carrie Mae-Weems, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.

 Education

MFA Painting and Printmaking, Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Boston, MA
Postgraduate Diploma Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design. London, England
BA Art History, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY

Jess Cofrin is the current art director and curator at the Sandisfield Arts Center in Sandisfield, MA