Duane Kirby Jensen is a painter and a poet. He has exhibited and performed since 1989 throughout the Pacific Northwest at numerous venues. He has been called an ‘outsider artist.’
In the early 2000’s, he felt his art had stagnated. Its existence created a wall that inhibited him to pursue other artistic ideas. He wanted to recapture his passion for painting. This sense of suffocation led him to burn the majority of his work. The few pieces that escaped the flames was due to oversight. This extremism rekindled his love and dedication to paint, allowing him to follow a wider variety of ideas.
In 2014 he had an exhibition entitled, Eight Years After the Flames: A Retrospective of Works from 2006-2014. Three weeks after the opening, he was asked to remove a large portion of the show because the subject matter (facial expressions) made people uncomfortable for being “TOO EDGY FOR BELLINGHAM.”
His work centers on isolation and its gravitational effect on emotion. He also explores the fragility of identity and the ease in which it can disappear. He often takes his subjects to the edge of madness. His work evokes emotions that linger beneath the surface. This stems from his interest in Film Noir and German Expressionism.
As he explores the darker sides of life and the despair that his subjects experience, he also instills within them a spark, a drive to survive, to persevere and not simply give up.
In his 2023 painting, “Surviving the fire in the sky” poet Doreen Deutsch Spungin commented, “Relief, gratitude and sorrow in one face!”
“The fading of faces in uncertain times” a painting from 2020, inspired these words from Lauri Langston, “Duane you have captured the controlled frenzy that’s amongst us. Perfect depiction. Terror.”
As a child he watched his grandmother and grandaunt paint scenes of their Stanwood, WA community. He comes from a long line of painters, photographers, woodcarvers, art installationists, inventors and storytellers.
In 2013 he received the Mayor’s Art’s Award: Artist in the Community for his Artistic Excellence & His Contributions to Everett Cultural Vitality.
Regarding his work, he says, “When I paint, I want to capture the image the way a filmmaker would—one frame at a time. I attempt to document the inner dialog of a person or place. I want to touch their emotional core, feel their turmoil, understand their agony, and swim within the isolation of each subject.”
His artwork has appeared in multiple magazines. Also, on the cover of many books and one CD.
