Jane Dugan (Janie) — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

https://brush.bio/janiedugan

In an era where contemporary art risks being subsumed into the diluted streams of post-digital aesthetics and hyper-commercialized abstraction, Janie Dugan emerges as a singular force—one who reconfigures the very semiotics of form, intuition, and existential resonance. Her oeuvre, spanning quill-drawn ink compositions to vibrantly layered acrylics, operates within an interstitial space that recalls the great modernist pursuit: an art that is at once self-referential yet deeply embedded in the transcendental and humanistic traditions.

Dugan’s contributions to the contemporary art landscape are a testimony to an artist who channels both visionary fervor and social consciousness. Her work, which has been displayed internationally—from Venice to Germany to the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Centre—establishes her as an artist unafraid to interrogate themes of temporality, spirituality, and human struggle. At a time when art often oscillates between minimalist affectation and overwhelming conceptual density, Dugan’s work reasserts the primacy of intuition, dreamscapes, and mythopoetic narrative.

Her place within contemporary discourse is unique, precisely because her practice does not merely function within the institutional frameworks that shape and validate much of today’s artistic production. Instead, she draws upon a deeply personal, almost archaic methodology: the use of the turkey quill and Indian ink, a medium reminiscent of medieval manuscript illumination and Indigenous storytelling. This return to an ancient tool, paradoxically, is what enables Dugan’s art to be resolutely modern. She bridges historical traditions with urgent contemporary dialogues, whether it be in her engagement with climate change narratives (Hope for the Future) or her contribution to human rights (DNA Gay (Human)).

Dugan’s own articulation of her practice—seeing art as “a song, a poetic message that brings to life thoughts and emotions”—invites a reading of her works as visual lyricism. Her paintings evoke an interplay of rhythm, repetition, and counterpoint akin to a musical composition, where gestural marks function as both melody and dissonance. This is particularly evident in Taming the Beast (2018), where her ink quill drawings achieve a near-automatic, improvisational quality reminiscent of Surrealist psychic automatism.

In Ancient England (2019), she encapsulates her mastery of the quill, evoking a fragmented yet deeply historical narrative. The stark black lines interweave to create a visual relic of an imagined or remembered past, where history seeps into form through an almost mystical rendering of space and time. This sense of time’s fluidity and the layering of memory is echoed in Totem Pole Guard (2017), where Dugan engages in cultural storytelling, integrating Indigenous symbology with her personal artistic lexicon. The structure of the composition, with its interlocking forms and dominant reds and blacks, channels the protective energy inherent in the subject.

The theme of spiritual intensity is central to Christ’s Death (2023), a raw and expressive work that channels the weight of suffering through stark ink strokes. The cross motif emerges from an abstracted yet deeply visceral composition, resonating with existential contemplation. In contrast, Dream Catcher (2018) acts as a visual metaphor for protection and subconscious realms. The interwoven patterns evoke the intricate crafting of dreamcatchers, serving as both a cultural homage and an exploration of dream logic.

Dugan’s versatility is further demonstrated in Hummingbird E (2019), where she moves away from ink-heavy compositions to embrace the fluidity of watercolor. The subject—a hummingbird—is captured in a moment of ephemeral beauty and movement, the delicate hues and gestural marks evoking a transitory, fleeting grace.

One of her most deeply personal works, My Broken Life (2018), conveys a fragmented self, expressed through jagged, entangled forms. The inked lines imprison and liberate simultaneously, mirroring the tension of personal struggle and artistic catharsis. This vulnerability is mirrored in The Pope, the Native and the Hummingbird Healer (2017), a composition rich with layered symbolism that interrogates themes of spirituality, reconciliation, and the healing power of nature. Dugan employs her characteristic interplay of color and form to bring forth a dialogue between faith and identity.

The interplay between solidity and dissolution emerges in Twin Towers, a work that contemplates loss, memory, and the architectural ghosting of history. Dugan’s approach to structural abstraction allows for a reading that oscillates between presence and absence, reflecting on the transient nature of built environments and their emotional residues. This theme of movement and transformation is also evident in Boat (2019), where quill strokes form a rhythmic composition that suggests waves, wind, and the transient nature of existence.

In attempting to locate Dugan’s artistic lineage, one is inevitably drawn to the great modernist Vincent van Gogh. Her affinity for the Dutch master is explicitly acknowledged in her artist statement, where she quotes him: “I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.” This, however, is not merely an aesthetic alignment but an existential one. Like van Gogh, Dugan’s works bear the mark of an artist who sees painting as an urgent, almost spiritual necessity—one that exists at the threshold between chaos and transcendence.

If contemporary art is to remain vital, it must be able to hold space for artists like Dugan—those who refuse the purely cerebral in favor of the deeply intuitive, those who find within the act of making a way of knowing. To engage with her work is to enter a world where vision is not merely an act of seeing, but of being seen.

Janie Dugan stands as a visual philosopher, a contemporary seer whose works offer both an elegy and an invocation. Much like the medieval illuminators, the Surrealists, and the Abstract Expressionists before her, she understands that the artist’s role is not merely to depict but to reveal. In her inked forms, in her layered compositions, one finds echoes of something ancient, something future, and something entirely now.

Her art does not demand to be understood; rather, it asks to be felt. And in that asking, it achieves what all great art aspires to: a language beyond language, a vision beyond sight.

Dugan’s work ultimately speaks to the deep need for contemporary art to remain personal, intuitive, and rooted in a visceral engagement with the world. Her ability to marry historical methodologies with present-day themes makes her a singular figure in today’s artistic landscape. At a time when much of the art world is consumed by commercial trends and algorithmic aesthetics, she stands as a defiant force of authenticity. Her works do not merely adorn walls; they ask questions, challenge perceptions, and demand introspection. In this way, her legacy is still unfolding—one line, one stroke, one vision at a time.

By Marta Puig

Editor Contemporary Art Curator Magazine