Jennifer Townley
1983 The Netherlands
“To me, ultimate beauty lies in nature; pine nuts, butterflies, corals, shells, flowers, cacti and many other organisms that grow according to specific rules, turning them into mathematical wonders. This natural beauty is everywhere to be found, for every human being to be inspired by, as if it’s saying, “This is what I’ve made, now you try”. So that is what I do. By copying nature’s construction process using repetition, symmetry, scaling and rotation, I hope to create organic structures or patterns that might just have a little bit of this natural beauty in it as well.”
Available Artwork
Kinetic Art
Jennifer Townley
Kinetic Art
Jennifer Townley
Kinetic Art
Jennifer Townley
Jennifer Townley
Since gaining her degree in Artscience at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in The Hague (NL) in 2008, Jennifer Townley has been working as an independent kinetic artist, creating mechanical sculptures that instantly pique the viewers interest.
Powered by electric motors her machines generate repetitive patterns that twist, merge, and cascade as individually sculpted elements rotate on a single axis. Shapes are constantly being distorted and transformed, patterns convert smoothly into new patterns and independent forms seemingly unite to subtly interfere with the viewers mind.
The works derive from Townley’s fascination with science, with an emphasis on physics, engineering and mathematics. Geometric patterns in Islamic art or mathematical drawings of Dutch artist M. C. Escher often serve as inspiration. Images where lines and figures match each other so perfectly they could be repeated indefinitely. This infinity, regularity and obedience is what Townley also finds fascinating about mechanical machines; they are robust, strenuous and seemingly immortal.
In her art, Townley manages to fuse her love for mechanics, with an interest in human perception. Working on the basis that people react well to symmetry, order, repetition, she plays with these ideas, her patterns, in the midst of seeming chaos bring a sense of calm, creating an almost hypnotic effect on the viewer.
Her sculptures celebrate the beauty and possibilities of mechanics while establishing elusive moments in which tangled figures suddenly seem perfectly aligned or geometrical shapes become an organic undivided unity.
Townley’s work features in multiple public and private international collections and has been exhibited across the globe from Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, UAE, Dubai, USA and throughout the Netherlands.
