Several months ago, SBDAC Chair Jim Griffith invited Marcus Jansen to exhibit his work at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center. While Griffith certainly recognized Jansen's genius at the time, little did he know that Jansen's powerfully evocative large-scale paintings would blow away Art Walkers, Music Walkers and everyone else who climbed the limestone steps of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center to take in his "Painter's Allegory" show.
Jerome Donson is also impressed with the Fort Myers artist and his work. Curator of the prestigious Vanguard Exhibition and a Rockefeller Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art, Donson feels so strongly about the significance of Jansen's historically representative work that he pegged him as the "Father of Urban Expressionism."
Art critic and historian Donald Miller agrees with Donson's assessment. "[His paintings] have longevity to them.There isn't anyone I know who's doing what he's doing ....[They] have their own niche. They're totally unique ..... I have a roladex in my mind of all the paintings throughout history ... and I've never seen anything like [Jansen's work]."
Absolut Vodka is the latest to recognize the brilliance and historical significance of Jansen's singular body of work. The distiller invited him to join 17 other highly-regarded artists in Absolut Blank, a global creative initiative that launched around world over the last few days.
The global movement includes paintings, film, print and outdoor advertising, consumer experiential events and a digital art piece that lives and evolves on mobile phones. Underlying the marketing campaign is Absolut's desire to serve as a catalyst for cutting edge creativity.
Absolut has a long and storied history of challenging conventions through creative collaborations with artists. In the past, they've partnered with icons such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon and Louise Bourgeois. Absolut Blank is the next daring new chapter in this legendary tradition, and the new generation of artists who have joined forces in Absolut Blank are leaders in their respective creative media, which range from painting, drawing and sculpture to printmaking, filmmaking and digital art.
It's rarified company, and there's no doubt to those who saw "A Painter's Allegory" that Marcus Jansen belongs in this new generation of iconic artists to be recruited by Absolut.
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