Jll Gewirtz

Biography

Jill Gewirtz is a New Yorker and has done some form of art, be it music, photography, jewelry making since she was a child. She grew up in the '70s, educated at Little Red in NYC, which cultivated her artistic spirit and talent. Her art is especially influenced by Rauschenberg, Saul Leiter, and Man Ray.

Her father owned and worked in color labs in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. He developed prints for Scavullo, Meyerowitz, Avedon, Hiro, and other pioneers in the photography field. The artist was surrounded by photography as an art form early on, even before she started taking photographs and developing film and prints in B&W herself.

Her image from the Museum of the City of New York's show 'Rising Waters, Hurricane Sandy' was recently accepted into the permanent collection at the Museum of the City of New York. She also had images included in group shows at Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, and the Katonah Museum.

Gewirtz works currently with found NYC Photographic Abstractions, Collages, Street Photography and she is also a musician and writes and performs her own music. She's curated art shows of collage and abstraction. In addition, she's gotten other artists work in museums.

Artist statement

My photography focuses on the self, themes of the psychology of survival, self-exploration, and exploration of the other. I see the world as a real-life museum full of Rauschenberg’s and Rothko’s through found abstraction in everyday life. I use the medium of digital and analog photography with themes of abstraction, surrealism, loss and infinity, and introspection. Over time, I’ve done alternative photography, used digital photography, and returned to film using multiple exposures with Holga cameras.

My attraction to history-found objects in flea markets, multiples of objects, and reflections have been long-time interests. I was exposed to photography by my father who owned color labs in NYC, so photography is in my blood and has been a part of my world throughout my lifetime. In photography, images stand alone, often capturing a story that the photographer discovers mid-process.

I have an image in the permanent collection at the Museum of the City of New York. I’ve also had my photos in group shows at Alexandria, Marin, Marietta Cobb, Cica, Griffin, Masur, Attleboro, and Hockaday Museums. I recently had 2 photos included in the Berlin Biennial through the Julia Cameron Awards. I had been in a 3 person show, curated by Jessica Porter at the Yard in NYC, featuring doors in different neighborhoods.