Edgar Jerins Art

Artist Edgar Jerins (Born in 1958) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, where he was on scholarship. He won several awards while at the university, including the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant in 1980. The university has a skill-based program that relies mainly on working from life from the figure. The training enabled Jerins to use photography correctly as a tool for his work. For years, he has been working primarily with pastel and oil, and now he has shifted the balance to primarily charcoal on paper. He draws unusually large conte pencil and charcoal works of troubled people and tense domestic situations. Two of his drawings, John Moves Back Home and The Twins and John Sr. in Sewickley, both capture the difficulties of young men still trying to find themselves in a setting that includes their aged parents. The drawings are mood pieces exploring the souls of the men, their families, and the artist himself. His drawings are based on multiple photographs of his subjects that he takes in various positions and locations. Jerins has exhibited at Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, and the Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock. While quite real, Jerins’ drawings are not coldly meticulous. They are generally more academic and without the drawings' depth of feeling. Framed Edgar Jerins art have found their way into many people’s homes and also into many art museums and galleries. Jerins has always felt part of the long tradition of realistic painting. He even attended the September 1995 Realist Painters Protest in front of the Whitney Museum of American Art.