Jenna Gribbon (born 1978) is an American artist living and working in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. She is best known for her figurative paintings whose primary subject is her partner,

Mackenzie Scott MacKenzie Scott ('' née'' Tuttle, formerly Bezos; April 7, 1970) is an American novelist and philanthropist. As of September 2022, she has a net worth of US$33.4 billion, owing to a 4% stake in Amazon, the company founded by her ex-husband J ...

. Gribbon frequently depicts Scott in candid, everyday scenes or overtly theatrical setups. Her work has been exhibited at the

Frick Collection The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the 945 Madison Avenue#2021–present: Frick Madison, Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and Europe ...

Collezione Maramotti The Collezione Maramotti is the private collection of contemporary art of Achille Maramotti, who founded Max Mara. It is housed in the former premises of the company in Reggio Emilia, in Emilia Romagna in central Italy, converted for the pur ...

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie is a museum in Warsaw, Poland. It was established in 2005. Until the construction of its new museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw carries out its program activities in a temporary premises Museum at Pa ...

, and appeared in Sofia Coppola's 2006 film, ''

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

.''

Early life and education

Jenna Gribbon was born Jenna Brown in 1978 in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

. Her parents divorced when she was two, and at the age of five, she moved to an area outside of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

with her mother and brother. Gribbon took an interest in art at an early age, and studied drawing and painting at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, graduating in 2001. While at the University of Georgia, she also experimented with film making.

Career

In 2003, Gribbon moved to New York City to pursue a career in art, where she briefly worked as a cocktail waitress and a color technician for artist

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish su ...

. In 2006, she was commissioned to create three portraits for the set of Sofia Coppola's ''Marie Antoinette''. In 2010, Gribbon and writer

Julian Tepper Julian Tepper (born April 1, 1979) is an American writer and musician. His novels include ''Balls'' (2012), ''Ark'' (2016), and ''Between the Records'' (2020). He co-founded the Oracle Club, a literary salon in New York City that was open from 20 ...

founded the Oracle Club, a literary salon and artist workspace in

Long Island City, Queens Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

. While running the salon, Gribbon continued painting portraits of her friends and family and exhibiting work. When the Oracle Club closed in 2016 due to rising rent, she began studying at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

, graduating in 2019 with her Master of Fine Arts. In 2018, she was commissioned to create a portrait of

Elsie Fisher Elsie Fisher (born April 3, 2003) is an American actress. She is known for her starring role in Bo Burnham's comedy-drama film '' Eighth Grade'' (2018), for which she earned a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Pic ...

for the film poster of

Bo Burnham Robert Pickering "Bo" Burnham (born 1990) is an American comedian, musician, songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. His comedy work often combines musical, sketch, and stand-up elements with filmmaking. Following his success as one of the earliest ...

's ''

Eighth Grade Eighth grade (or grade eight in some regions) is the eighth post-kindergarten year of formal education in the US. The eighth grade is the ninth school year, the second, third, fourth, or final year of middle school, or the second and/or final ye ...

''. After graduating, Gribbon's work largely focused on the exploration of queer identity and sensuality, and she has received positive reviews for her intimate depictions of women and gender in various solo shows. She has cited artists like

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine ''Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including ''L'amour fou' ...

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

, Karen Kilmnik, and

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific ar ...

as inspirations for her work. Gribbon directed the music video for

Torres Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname *Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott **Torres (album), ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas *Torres, Colorado, an un ...

' "Too Big for the Glory Hole" in 2020. In 2021, her paintings appeared in a two-person show at Sim Smith Gallery, alongside the films of Agnes Varda, who Gribbon has cited as an inspiration for her work. Her work has also appeared in group exhibitions at the

Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, also known as MOCA Jacksonville, is a contemporary art museum in Jacksonville, Florida, funded and operated as a "cultural institute" of the University of North Florida. One of the largest contemporary ...

, the

, and the

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLM), formerly the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, is a visual art museum in SoHo, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It mainly collects, preserves and exhibits visual arts created by LGBTQ artists or art ...

. In 2023, Gribbon's work appeared in juxtaposition to

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Jüngere; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered o ...

's portraits of

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

and

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...

at the

. In her introduction for the 2023-24 exhibition titled "Jenna Gribbon: The Honeymoon Show," at the Lévy Gorvy Dayan Gallery, curator

Alison M. Gingeras Alison M. Gingeras is an American curator and writer, based in New York and Warsaw. She has held positions at numerous institutions including the Guggenheim Museum, the Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Pompidou and the Palazzo Grassi. As a w ...

wrote:

Personal life

As a senior at the University of Georgia, Gribbon married Matthew Gribbon, another artist, though they divorced shortly after. In 2010, she and her then-partner Julian Tepper had a son, Silas. Silas is a frequent subject of Gribbon's paintings, and she has frequently spoken on the impact of motherhood on her work and the sexism she has faced as a mother. In 2017, Gribbon met musical artist Mackenzie Scott while at a bar in the East Village, and they married in 2022. Scott is the primary subject of Gribbon's portraits in "Personal Life." In addition to directing one of Scott's music videos, Gribbon painted the cover art for Scott's album '' Silver Tongue.'' Gribbon lives and works in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gribbon, Jenna 1978 births Hunter College alumni University of Georgia alumni American Impressionist painters Lesbian painters People from Knoxville, Tennessee Painters from Brooklyn Living people American lesbian artists 21st-century American women painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American LGBT people