Jess Blandford

 

 

Jess Blandford (b.1973) is a British artist living and working in south east London. Jess gained a first class BA Hons in painting at Camberwell in 2009, and then studied printmaking at the Royal College.  

 

Jess' work explores the often invisible and under-valued work that family life frequently demands. Her abstract paintings are often preoccupied with repetition and unseen layers.

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(Un)Tethered is a series she has worked on since 2018, where the paintings are a playful exploration of domestic space. The series is influenced by descriptions of the 'unstable hut' owned by the ambivalent mother figure Baba Yaga in Slavic folktales. As Baba Yaga is renowned for setting impossible domestic tasks, hidden layers of colour suggest invisible repetitive work. These abstract structures won't hold together logically, and instead they are wonky, they float away or tumble open. Attempts to tether them seem, perhaps, to be futile.