"Smells Like Team Spirit" is about feeling as a collective. Teams, especially in sports, are islands of humanity on a backdrop of economic highs and lows, world wars, backward and forward thinking. The communal sentiment permeates in each. “The game”, be it baseball, football or basketball, is taking place over the run of a century no matter what. Strong sentiments (especially losing or winning) are felt together. Progress and regress are inevitable, and eventually all leagues’ scores count. While the creators of rules and boundaries may fade into obscurity, those who defy and redefine them remain unforgettable. This painted, oxidized and collaged series is a reflection of that.
Smells like team spirit
Curtiss Jacobs Gallery
October 24 - December 30, 2024
Jackie 'Stiff Arm' Robinson played 1939 and 1940 at UCLA. He was also a stand-out at the long jump, but left the university to play semi-pro before joining the US Army. Refusal to sit at the back of the bus in Fort Hood, Texas led to charges of which he was acquitted. The incident nor many others were not forgotten. "After two years at UCLA, I decided to leave. I was convinced that no amount of education would help a black man get a job."
Medium: Oil, iron oxide, acrylic, copper salt, collage
ARTIST STATEMENT
When I paint, I use a narrow color spectrum. I strip an image down by three criteria: depth of field, shadow and light, and its fight with gravity. I believe it's these rules, by which an observer moves past staring at dried paint and accepts an image for its illusion. When it comes to athletes "the fight" with gravity is especially powerful as they seriously engage in working with it or defying it. Colors, to me, are a way to organize a piece. Painting humans in teal makes them the most noticeable part of the plot. Oxidizing is about letting go and collaging is about discreetly bringing in brash shapes and banal sound bites of the time.
Having been wall-eyed, near-sighted and asthmatic growing up, I would be the last one picked for any team, but we all want to belong and live vicariously through our heroes and favorite clubs. The culture around sports in the States is something I felt was really powerful when I first encountered it. Having briefly been a seamstress, I also fell in love with the gear, especially how it wears and tears. For all its flaws and commerciality, sports are a perfect reflection of Americana and that's what compelled me.
In a time where everything is designed to propel us forward faster and faster, art is one thing that is meant to slow us down and reflect., even if it's just a little.
- Charlotta Janssen
