"I Am Not Dying in a Forest, I Do Not Miss My Youth"

Oil, Acrylic, Colored Pencil, Chalk Pastel, Oil Pastel, Crayon, Graphite, and Charcoal on Canvas

60" x 50"

2021

Statement:

I do not consider my work to be about trauma, but it is based around it. Writing artist statements have always been difficult for me. I had rather be academic and philosophical to allow an open ended and inviting approach to an audience.

I do consider my work to be about life and about my experience as a human. It is an abstract, diaristic approach to talk about the things I find difficult to be vulnerable about. In 2010, I fell 5 stories through an abandoned building and was left in a medically induced coma for 10 days. I woke up to learn that I almost died, my femurs were broken, and the last 10 days of memory I had were all hallucinations. That experience changed myself and my focus on why I make and approach artwork.

I found abstraction as a way to comfort and deal with these things. I found painting and mixed media as a mindful approach to deal with overwhelming thoughts. I know it is not just me that has gone through the cruel nature of life. In fact, I know I am lucky to not have suffered as hard as others have. However, I cannot shake the fact that we all deal with these atrocities, no matter how small or large. The hopes of my work are not just to serve as my diaries and therapy, but to allow for a discussion for each and everyone of us to admit that things are hard, and even harder to explain.

Bio:

Brian Jerome was born in York, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1990. He grew up next to a corn farm in Dallastown, Pennsylvania. Jerome received his BFA from Tyler School of Art with a focus in printmaking in 2013. He was accepted into The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for his MFA on scholarship. He began to focus on multimedia, abstract painting. At the Academy, he engaged in critical aesthetic theory and art history.

During his graduate studies, his work began drawing heavy influence from a curiosity of language and linguistics, emotive expression, and the symbology of Carl Jung. His work has attempted to make a bridge between subjective, internal dialogue and the failure of conventional language to express the fullness of the human condition. Jerome also has found some of his most important inspiration from Anthony Bourdain. His work has been shown and collected internationally.

Jerome currently lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since 2008.

https://www.instagram.com/brianjeromeofficial/?hl=en