Jordan Daines is an adept painter primarily working with oil on wood panel or canvas. It has been written that, “Her thick painterly style and love of color lends itself to bold renderings within a gradient of semi to overtly representational work.” Daines and her husband recently moved from Los Angeles to Utah.
Tell us about your evolution as an artist. I have wanted to be an artist since I was in 3rd grade when I made a ceramic pig. I was so proud of that pig–I immediately knew my calling! I earned my first ‘art set’ in fifth grade by practicing the piano (which I somehow don’t know how to play anymore) and I would paint in my spare time as a hobby. As a teenager I won the National Art Education Association Student award and was also chosen to show in the Congressional Art Competition in Washington, D.C. That positive reinforcement kept me dialed in and kept me dedicated to work and stress with my art. I went on to receive my BFA in painting at Utah State University. I learned a lot about the craft of painting in school, but I have continued to try and involve myself with theory and develop my content more and more in the decade or so since graduation. I actually credit my husband for a lot of my evolution. He is an architect and a keen observer of contemporary art. He is my #1 critic; no painting is finished until we are both happy with it. His input is invaluable to me. Every artist needs a trusted cohort to honestly critique their work.
Some of your work is like a more protein-rich Wayne Thiebaud. I’ll accept the comparison to Thiebaud! His work is definitely a significant precedent for me. He was known as a ‘happy artist’, which I feel an attachment to as well. I find great pleasure in coming up with new color combinations and interesting subjects. I have a large range of content that I paint, but the meat does stand out. It’s not that I’m a huge carnivore, and there is really no significant critique attached. It’s color, texture and organic nature is quite abstract, but it is also recognizable as a banal item of life, which I suppose Thiebaud concerned himself with as well. My impasto application of paint also lends itself very nicely to meat. I use oil paint only. No thinners or mediums. Over the last 10 years I have transitioned from brushes to knives. Brushes frustrate me. Knives are so much more candid in their application. I used to mix with a knife and paint with a brush, however, over time I decided to just cut out the middleman… or the end man rather.
What’s next for you? Right now I am working on a series of large abstracts for a solo show in May 2016 at the Wall Gallery in Dallas, TX. Getting ready for this show has been a great experiment for testing my painting efficiency and brain power in regard to the scale of my work. With the nature of my process of mostly wet on wet paint, I have to work fast and focused. If the paint dries just a little it gets tacky and disrupts the whole feel of the painting.
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