Janna Kumi

Artist Biography

Originally from the Netherlands, Janna Kumi is a Canadian artist living in Metro Vancouver and exhibiting in British Columbia and across Canada. Her initial art studies were at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, but she went on to complete professional degrees in physical geography and forestry at various Canadian universities and in Germany. Following a successful career in natural resource management in British Columbia, she returned to art and completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at UBC in 2015.

Since then, she has built her artistic practice around a unique body of work regularly exhibited within Metro Vancouver. In recognition, she has been awarded two Canada Council for the Arts grants (2019/20 and 2021/22) and attained her Associate Status with the Federation of Canadian Artists in 2021. She has been active with both the North Shore Artist’s Guild (2008 – present) and the Federation of Canadian Artists (2013 - present).

Artist Statement

My practice defies easy categorization, operating instead within formal and conceptual slippages between abstract modernist, minimalist, and representative art. The consistency across the work is the emotional response I have to function, form, and patterns primarily occurring in small, overlooked, and seemingly insignificant components of the natural world. Trees and forests hold special interest, with my focus mostly on the micro-level of bark and wood and its textures, colours, and life forms that find a home there.

The artistic process starts with close observation and is based on many photographic reference images I personally shoot all over British Columbia. The work is meticulous and closely cropped, inviting viewers to draw near for a closer look, which allows a more intimate portrait to emerge. Colour, pattern, and luminosity are enhanced to let the complexity shine through. Drawings are on paper, or wood panels using colour pencils and ink and protected with several coats of beeswax as varnish. Throughout the creative process, I strive to keep my artistic practice as environmentally sustainable as possible. The use of simple, artisanal materials reflects the Arte Provera movement, and my work has been inspired particularly by Giuseppe Penone and Vija Celmins. Other influences are the minimalist traditions, the German painter Gerhard Richter, and the American artist Helen Frankenthaler. I search for that fluidity of line and sensitivity of colour that describes shapes and forms. Not disguising or hiding the meaning, I celebrate what the eye often overlooks.

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I work mainly through commissions. It costs no more than buying something "ready-made", your satisfaction is guaranteed, and if not satisfied, simply return the artwork and receive a full refund. For more information about the process, please see my website (www.jannakumi.com) and check out the header "Commissions" on the menu.

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Artwork ships free anywhere in Canada