Bill Jehle
Corrales, NM
The First Time I Saw the sails
Novacolor, pencil on prepared Arches 400, hot
29.5" x 42"
2020
$2800
About
I was raised in a small town on the California Mexico border. My parents were both artists, father-architect, mother-painter/ ceramicist. Several kinds of art activities were always on the schedule whether it was visiting craftspeople in Mexicali, silkscreening Christmas cards, that I would design, watching my mother paint and always drawing. My father was not only an architect, but he made things - that’s where I learned how to make things - and now I make things too. I was educated at CU Boulder, Cal ARTS (for BFA) and Cooper Union. Some of the teachers that had the biggest influence on my work: Jerry Kunkel, Jack Whitten, Paul Brach, Miriam Schapiro, Lynda Benglis, Dore Ashton and Jim Starrett. My work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Hawaii and is in both corporate and private collections around the country. I now live in Corrales, NM and divide my time between my studio there and my cabin in Southern Colorado.
Artist Statement
Simplicity of expression and freedom from pretense. In this work elegance of line and composition are carefully executed to create abstract examples of complex ideas and techniques. Countering the intentional and the unintentional, the trompel’oeil and flat, gestural and hard edge, these artworks represent a line in creation between the automated functions of expression, and the intentional, yet meticulous application of decisions. I like to determine when a line that may emanate from the subconscious becomes art and subsequent decisions to apply color and shape inform emotion and context.
