In Reverence to the Feminine : Jennika Bastian | In Rapture of Psyche

Artist Statement

Based in Albany | unceded Ohlone land

Jennika Bastian is a Bay Area based magical realism painter and mask maker. One of her favorite quotes is "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths," by Joseph Campbell. She views her artwork as a dance between these realms. When Jennika was 5 years old she taught herself how to lucid dream. Her aesthetic is informed by how objects, environments and characters appear in her dreams: shape shifting, ephemeral, simultaneously growing and decaying. She is fascinated by mythology and folklore in different cultures- particularly how these tales can thread within our subconscious minds, almost as if the stories are organisms unto themselves.

In Rapture of Psyche

A queer lover version of Willam Bougereau's famous painting, "The Abduction of Psyche." In Greek Mythos, Psyche (the Woman on the left), was the most beautiful mortal in the lands, so lovely that Aphrodite was overcome with jealousy and ordered her daughter Eros the god(dess) of Love to use her powers to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest, most vile creature in the world. She agreed, but as soon as Eros laid eyes on Psyche she fell madly in love.