Jeff Eden: Visual Artist

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Jeff Eden, and if my nifty title above isn’t abundantly clear, I am a visual artist; at present, I am a landscape painter. No, not like Bob Ross. Assuredly, I have no issue with the work of Bob Ross; that’s just not my forte.  I’m getting ahead of myself here.  Let’s back things up for a brief moment, and we’ll get down to business, sound good? 

Genesis…Jeff-esis?

Every artist has a different story; mine is more fun than professional.  It all started for me when I was a child, probably around 9 or 10 years of age.  I was obsessed with Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes, and I would spend countless hours drawing these characters (occasionally penning my own Sunday funnies) until I could do so from memory.  From there it was a linear progression; I “graduated” to drawing more complex characters, and over time, became acquainted with the wonderful world of Fine Art. 

From Comics to Media Frenzy

Until 2005, art was a passion, a hobby, but not anything I considered career worthy.  That changed when, in high school, I was tasked with repurposing a jewelry box as a sculptural vehicle for a sociopolitical statement.  I won’t bore you with the details (you can find the press articles), but to put it succinctly, my work set off a media firestorm after it placed second in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards regional competition.  To say the work was controversial would be an understatement.  Though I only placed second, my work was, without question, the most discussed.  It was then that I realized hey, there’s power in art.  That same year a fateful field trip to the MoMA brought me face-to-face with Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  I’d never been moved by a work of art prior to seeing this one, but the raw emotive journey woven into the canvas fibers inspired me to no end; at that moment I decided, I want to be an artist.

So, What about Now?

In the years since the abovementioned pivotal year, I went on to earn my BFA with a concentration in drawing.  Credentials in hand, I apprenticed as and became a professional tattoo artist/piercer, in addition to daily toiling away at my longtime, and very toxic, job as a kitchen supervisor. 

That, however, all changed in 2018.  When I left the kitchens for good, I decided the time had come to attempt graduate study.  I hadn’t touched a paint brush in almost a decade and time was against me, but I set myself to work immortalizing the wild spaces in which I enjoyed recreational immersion as an avid outdoorsman.  In just a few short months, an entire body of oil paintings was created, and I eventually found myself enrolled in pursuit of my MFA at Bowling Green State University where I was both a student, and a foundation drawing course instructor. As of May 2021, I earned my MFA and am re-enrolled to pursue an MA in Art History.

Current Work

Inspired by a lifelong love of the outdoors and eastern thought and philosophy, I am creating Sumi-e paintings.  Of course, as I am not eastern, my work is a western recontextualization/critical examination of this practice.  I like to think this is a testament to the medium as but another dialect in the language of painting.  I find that working in this fashion is perfect for bridging the gap between my background in drawing and my passion as a painter.  It is my penultimate goal that my viewers indulge in these works, if only for a moment, and take the time to ruminate on their wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of our shared natural world.  Perhaps it’s a lofty goal, and perhaps impractical, but it’s mine all-the-same.  Thanks for taking the time to acquaint yourself with my work, and by extension, me; it was nice to meet you!