Art, like Life, is all about Improvisation
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Pacific Northwest painter and collage artist Jean Lenke creates bold, improvisational works where chaos and harmony collide. Her process is free and energetic, layering texture, color, and form through instinct and movement. Torn edges, frantic lines, and unexpected details emerge, revealing structure within disorder. Embracing the unpredictable, Jean lets passion and intuition lead the way, crafting work that is raw, expressive, and endlessly evolving.
CURRENT WORKS:
In her current collection, Wax On, Wax Off, Jean Lenke invites viewers into the rhythm of creation and erasure, where every gesture is both an offering and a subtraction. Drawing from the meditative repetition of applying and removing media, this body of work pulses with layered energy. Using collage, paint, and vigorous sgraffito, the artist exposes and conceals in equal measure—scratching through surfaces to unearth hidden colors, forgotten forms, and spontaneous marks.
The works are raw, tactile, and richly textured, echoing the ebb and flow of intuition. Bold lines cut through swathes of color; shapes emerge from chaos only to dissolve back into abstraction. There is no fixed destination—only the constant movement of discovery.