Jen Tong

So, remember how I'm writing a book?  Um, yeah. So that's pretty exciting. And so I've been working lately on a piece of it that has to do with art galleries--how they are this great free source of art to look at, but most people don't go to them because they are really flipping intimidating. And this caused me to remember my own early days, nearly a decade ago, of forcing myself to go to galleys despite the majorly high intimidation factor, and specifically the first time I ever saw an artist's work in a gallery that I just completely adored and how that suddenly made the whole thing seem worth it. That artist was Jen Tong and the show featured these four paintings, among others--but these were the four I fell in love with. I still love them all these years later. It's hard for me to put into words what it is I dig so very much about them--the colors, the humor, the way they say something, or several things, about girlhood--all of those are true cool things I like here, yes. But my visceral reaction to these images goes deeper than that. There is just some sort of special receptor in my brain that these pictures fit perfectly into. And I hope you will enjoy them too.