Janine Jollands

Janine uses environment “be it people, places or moments in time” as a starting point for her paintings. Soundscapes, landscapes and mindscapes are instruments for expressing composition, emotion and understanding. Her work is centered on Africa - its energy, colours, people and vistas are a constant inspiration.

She is above everything a composer of colour.

Janine Jollands graduated with a degree in fine art from Durban University of Technology in 1981.  Jollands is a fine arts teacher and abstract painter.

She has exhibited at private and public galleries and her work  hangs in collections across South Africa and in other global destinations.

Selected exhibitions:

2016
solo exhibition Faces of Durban,  ArtSPACE Durban

 

 

Which artists, books or music have inspired your work?
Artists – Rothko, Matisse, Diebenkorn, Caravaggio
Books – The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
Music – Gospel, 60’s and 70’s music, contemporary music

Which South African deceased artist do you most admire and why?
Walter Battiss as he created his own parallel universe, his own language and visual world.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
Monet’s Waterlily Series

Pick three artists who you would be honored to exhibit with – and why
Matisse – his use of colour
Pascale Chandler – her creative ingenuity and perpetual growth
Penny Siopsis – she lectured me and was my ultimate inspiration

How did you get started? Did you always want to be an artist?
From a toddler to today, creativity is akin to breathing

What are some of the key themes you explore in your work?
The intangible, the possibilities where colour and mark making transport one to the fun and frivolous, and to other enigmatic mysteries.

What should people know about your art that they can’t tell from looking at it?
Each painting is like an intimate relationship – joys and pain, hope and despair, love and hate – but ultimately held in my heart.

What are the most essential items in you studio and why?
Oil, brushes, turps – music and coffee

Tell us more about your creative process.
I’m closer to my creator when I’m painting. I feel most at home when I’m consumed by my art.  

Do you believe an artist should use their platform to influence society? Why?
Yes. I don’t have a political or social voice. I tap into the opportunities to enter into one’s own world of imagination.

Do you have a favourite or most meaningful work?
This changes with the seasons of life. Currently besotted with raspberry and pink.

What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date?
My greatest achievement is that I can make sense of this inexplicable and wonderful world through my art. When my work resonates with someone.

What are your aspirations for the future?
To keep growing, learning, to keep giving and to reach a bigger audience.