ELISA JENSEN

On the Fair Wheel Series:

I have called this series of small paintings “The Fair Wheel.” They are inspired by sun images from Neolithic period, to the Bronze age, Celtic and Medieval to Viking age. All the imagery deals with the cycle of life and rejuvenation, with light and the expression of divinity. The term Fair Wheel comes from viking poetry; it is a kenning - a metaphorical compound - for the sun. All of the paintings are 6 x 6 inches, oil on wood, and are painted on the sides with some shade of yellow to orange to represent sunlight. When hung on the wall the yellow sides reflect light to create a sort of aura around the work.


Elisa Jensen lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She has received awards for her work from the New York Foundation for the Arts, The National Academy Museum, The American Academy of Arts and Letters and The Revson Foundation.

A selected list of her solo and two person shows includes 100 Gold Boats and the Fair Wheel, at David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Brooklyn, Call Out at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York; Street Lines at The Painting Center, NYC; Neighborhood Watch at Kimmel Gallery, NYU; Place and Passage: Elisa Jensen & Ruth Miller at The New York Studio School Gallery, NY; Icehouse Gallery, Greenport, Long Island; Perimeter Gallery, Maine; Royal Danish Consulate General, NYC; Morsø Kunstforening, Denmark.

Elisa has participated in group exhibitions at Edward Thorp Gallery, David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Leslie Heller Gallery, Sideshow Gallery and Elizabeth Harris Gallery. This year she curated two group exhibitions at the Green Door Gallery in Williamsburg, she has also curated a show at the former Repetti Gallery in Long Island city.

She is a member of the Corner Group, a Danish artists’ collective, and shows with them regularly at Sophienholm, a Museum in Lyngby, Denmark.

Her work has been reviewed and featured in Two Coats of Paint, Whitehot Magazine, Artinterviewsny.com, Hyperallergic, Artcritical.com, Artefuse.com, Tilted-arc.com, The New York Sun, New York Daily News, and The New York Times.

Elisa graduated from Smith College and the New York Studio School. She currently teaches at the New York Studio School. Please see www.elisajensen.com for more information.