Malia Jensen | Yields

September 6 - October 27, 2018

First Thursday Reception: September 6, 6 - 8pm
Artist Talk: October 6, 11am

In her latest body of work, Malia Jensen reveals personal narratives of past and present and explores universal themes of redemption, resiliency, loss and mortality. 

In Yields, Jensen continues her exploration of human nature using clay constructions to create a highly personal narrative. Jensen revisits a figurative practice, using her ceramic sculpture, 32 Year Old Woman, as an anchor for the exhibition. This academic study of the female figure was created when Jensen was a 20 year old art student at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Bisque-fired and forgotten for decades, she has now completed the piece with a second firing. The evidence of time is clear, reflected in the map-like cracks and the patina of the glaze. Jensen employs a classical vernacular in Pale Drape, and turns her gaze to the male body for a series of Man Studies.

Metaphoric exploration of artifice and constructions of the human condition are central to Jensen’s practice. Through sculpture, video and works on paper she combines raw and seductive materials that call attention to the brutality and beauty of daily life. Her diverse studio practice is driven by the hope that art can create an energetic shift in times of chaos and uncertainty.

Malia Jensen (b. 1966, Honolulu, HI) lives and works in Portland, OR. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues and institutions including the Melbourne International Arts Festival (Melbourne, Australia), Schneider Museum of Art (Ashland, OR), Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), Tacoma Art Museum (Tacoma, WA), Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (Milwaukee, WI), Holter Museum of Art (Helena, MT), Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), Mesa Arts Center (Mesa, AZ), Marian Goodman Gallery (London, England), Richard Gray Gallery (Chicago, IL), and Cristin Tierney Gallery (New York, NY). She has been an Artist in Residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (Captiva, FL), Ucross Foundation (Clearmont, WY), Headlands Center for the Arts (Sausalito, CA) and the Portland Garment Factory (Portland, OR); and a visiting artist and speaker at Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA), Southern Oregon University (Ashland, OR), Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland, OR), and Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston, MA). She has completed numerous public commissions in the Northwestern United States, and her work is held in many public and private collections. Jensen has been represented by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery since 2006.