Garrett Jensen

(b.1974; resides Chicago, IL)

Ballad of a Soldier, 1999/2000

American Baseball Bat, 2000

American Baseball Bat, 2000

I am fascinated with violence, tragedy and despair because I never experienced these things first hand. My ideas originate in “hard luck” tales of manhood I find in conversations, punk and country western music, and action movies. - Garrett Jensen

Garrett Jensen creates highly dramatic, staged narratives of tough guys in morally questionable situations. Appearing in various guises, the character of a young tattooed rebel is central to each of the three bodies of work represented in Jensen’s Midwest Photographers Project portfolio. American Baseball Bat follows three swing-set gangster types who find a woman being attacked and then beat-up her aggressor, while Ballad of a Soldier chronicles the depression and eventual suicide of a despondent young man. The ethics and emotions of White Trash are far more subtle. Photographing from a fixed vantage point in a single bedroom, the White Trash pictures capture the alienation and lack of intimacy between lovers. The man in the series is always the same, but sometimes he is with a brunette woman and other times a blonde.

Jensen holds a BFA from Columbia College Chicago (1998), and is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Grant and a Community Arts Assistance Program Grant. He has exhibited at The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore; and in Chicago at NFA Space, Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College, Beret International Gallery, and House of Swing.

- Kendra Greene