ARTIST PROFILE

Jenny Nijenhuis

  • South Africa (b. 1969 in Johannesburg)
  • Currently in Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Jenny returned to her art practice in 2012 working in sculpture, installation and photography. Nijenhuis was a finalist in the 2017 Sasol New Signatures and in 2016 she initiated the SA’s Dirty Laundry installation.
The Trickster

The Trickster

  • 2013
  • Acrylic resin, fibreglass, paint, varnish
  • 40 x 50 x 50 cm

  • The shapeshifting personification of chance & unpredictability in an ordered world, he is ingenious, deceitful and causes mischief. He points out weaknesses in the constructed societies of man & plays with the laws of the universe.

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  • The Thomani - thumbnail In the Red - thumbnail The Cronus Complex - thumbnail Ace, a taste of mum’s love - thumbnail Ignoramus (The Fool) - thumbnail The Siren - thumbnail The Trickster - thumbnail The Scarecrow - thumbnail Eeny Meeny Miney Mo - thumbnail The abuser & wounded child - thumbnail The Warrior - thumbnail The Sixth Demon, Gluttony  - thumbnail

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    Archetypes | 2013 - 2018

An archetype is a collectively assumed symbol, expression, or way of behaving, a prototype upon which others are modelled. Jung proposed the existence of universal prototypes of ideas that channel experiences and emotions, which result in recognisable and typical patterns of behaviour. At any given time, each of us is likely to be operating under at least one of the archetypal patterns, a character carefully put on for the known behavioural outcome. When the conscious mind chooses to ignore these archetypal behaviour patterns we become caught up in the belief that we are what we are merely experiencing - this provides a skewed sense of individual identity. This exploration of archetypes and their innate characteristics through figurative sculptural work attempts to expose the state of the human condition – while simultaneously revealing my own positions and choices.