Jenn Porreca Biography

Born in 1977 in England to a pair of creatively inclined parents (her mother a tombstone/monument maker and horse trainer, her father a musician,) artistic energy and constant exploration have long been central to Jenn Porreca’s world.

The artist spent her youth living in diverse places like Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Pennsylvania, and finally settled in San Francisco at the age of 21. The eclectic San Francisco Bay Area would serve as the perfect breeding ground for this curious, socially aware woman, and she soon found herself involved in non-profit and grant writing work. Surprisingly, Porreca never attended formal art school; a reality that has helped more than hindered her bold artistry. Her style is unique and she continues to experiment with new techniques and mediums on a regular basis, thus organically feeding into a beautiful and cyclical process of curiosity, knowledge, and experimentation that is literally palpable in her deep and layered paintings. No other artist’s work is quite like Porreca’s, and that’s just the way she likes it.

Citing influences from European silhouette and folklore artists of the early 1900s, San Francisco street art, Japanese Manga, her favourite literature, the collective consciousness, turn of the century typography and European architecture, and the mixed Latin/Asian culture of the Philippines, Porreca’s aesthetic is as emotionally and socially meaningful as it is visually stunning.

She has shown widely, with exhibitions in New York, San francisco, Los Angeles and London. She has worked on projects with companies including Von Dutch, Virgin Recrods/EMI, and San Jose Museum of Art to name a few. She was awarded Art Spain Scholar in 2007.