james jensen

Early in life, Fort Collins native James Jensen aspired to be a concert pianist and he studied music and composition at the University of Colorado.  While pursuing his interest in music, Jensen also discovered his passion and talent for the visual arts and he became increasingly aware that this was the direction he wanted to take in life.

Jensen has been heavily influenced by the images and techniques of the Old Masters (he spends a month each year in Italy) but his work is unmistakably contemporary.  Many of his canvases are pierced and shaped in ways that blur the boundaries of painting and sculpture and his free use of mixed media (paint, gold leaf, lacquer varnish) speaks to his roots in contemporary painting practice.

The subject matter in Jensen's work varies from still life to large images of horses, landscapes and quasi-surreal scenarios that come out of the artist's rich imagination.