JWD

SOCIAL SURREALISM

BY JEANNE WEBER DENTZEL

D edicated to : M r . L ucky L ucky

I. W rapped up in Y ourself

S O C I A L SURREALISM

COLLAGE PAINTINGS

J eanne W eber D entzel

F oreword by L eslie A ndrea W estbrook E ditor and D esigner C athy H enszey

C ollage medium :

arches paper acrylic paint + glazes photo montage collage color pencil sizes 16 x 20 to 9 x 12

. CONTENTS

F oreword 6 _ 11

12 _ 27

28 _ 43

44 _ 57

58 _69

70_81

82 _ 97

98-112

Printing:TYPECRAFT

C offee with D ali [ self - portrait ]

. FOREWORD

Jeanne Weber Dentzel has always been driven to make art, and her impressive list of accomplish- ments is long. Over her career, she has cut a wide swath of achievement across feature films, theater, and decorative and fine art. Her determination to create began at a very young age. Growing up in Minneapo- lis, Minnesota, Jeanne was always drawing, playing with colors and living in her own fantasy world. As a child of six, she showed her Grandma Myrtle a drawing she had made. When the elder criticized her subject’s hands, Jeanne took on the challenge to learn how to draw them “correctly”—a mission she attributes to fueling her discipline and determination to make art. Her grandmother’s honesty set her on a lifelong path to conquer a very high bar. The effort turned out a technically skilled artist who would go on to create set designs, paint murals in public spaces and homes, and produce fantastical art in her own studio, ignited by her vivid imagination. This book deals with just one fascinating slice of the artist’s vast body of work: collages that incorporate magazine clippings, bits of found detritus, acrylic paint and colored pencil. The images—she has produced some 400 pieces to date in her Santa Barbara studio—are her personal responses to political and social events, private moments of joy and life’s challenges. The title Social Surrealism references her use of symbolism to record her inner life along with her strong sense of wonder. . What is the key to these mysterious collages? It can be what each viewer brings to their own personal response. While some images may seem more obvious and easier to decipher than others, hidden texts and subtle hints invite the viewer to step inside the two-dimensional works and enter a fourth dimension using their own imagination. The collages explore her life, social and cultural

happenings. They are like movie stills of observed and imagined events.

Images that span centuries are contained within the pages here, with references as wide-ranging as Henri Matisse to Kim Kardashian. They are sexy and coy, voluptuous and intriguing, and compellingly colorful. Take for instance the art on the cover: “Reflection Photo.” An Asian lady with wildly painted fingernails aims her camera at the viewer. What does she see? Do you know her? The painted collages contain puzzles, both straightforward and mysterious. But Jeanne’s titles often offer clues: “A Weekend Retreat” takes the viewer to Matisse’s “Interior at Nice” (“Intérieur à Nice”). “Relax by the Pool” invites one to sink into a sumptuous red velvet divan. Pathways to unknown destinations and music of the universe are contained within “Hidden Pool Hour.” Over her career, Jeanne has cut a wide swath of achievements across feature films, theater, and decorative and fine art. Everything is fodder for the artist’s prismatic collages, which she describes as “mini stage sets that tell a story.” She is always on the lookout for material. “Making art is an unconscious and conscious practice. I rely on my work to inform me of my reality, and not the other way around.” But while some pieces are culled from her subconscious, others seemingly “drop down from the jet stream of universal knowledge.” The latter totally surprises Jeanne, who says she feels as though she is being asked to be a messenger. The body of work in this book takes on contemporary society and its “outra- geous record of social velocity, the likes of which we’ve never experienced be- fore. Sometimes the mood is creepy,” she adds. “Other times it is amusing. The more twists the better! A humorous title helps explain my vision. Levity as an antidote to everyday living.” Having once spent a year with her husband and son on the Basque coast, Jeanne listens to Spanish podcasts instead of music in her studio. “Listening to podcasts not only helps me maintain my Spanish—it also quiets my inner critic. There’s no room for music in my workspace; the only rhythm I want

to hear is the one that comes from my own movement as I paint. It feels like my artwork is my dance partner. Actually, we take turns leading.”

Armed with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Jeanne studied in the male-dominated art environment during a time that emphasized conceptual and minimalist art—movements that did not resonate with her. Figurative drawing and painting, on the other hand, were techniques that she excelled at. After graduating from college, she moved to New York City, the art capital at the time, but found herself transferring her skills to the more practical realm of production design. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, she discovered a collaborative community that included talented painters, musicians, filmmakers and designers, many of whom were working on music videos, off-Broadway plays and operas. For two years, she studied under set and costume designer Lester Polokov at his New York Studio and Forum of Stage Design in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Here, she admits, she acquired more practical skills than from her training at

art school. “The extensive skill set I gained there greatly contributed to my success in passing the rigorous exam to join the Scenic Artists Union.” Her career then launched into film production design. She felt honored and appreciated while working on set designs for seven major motion pic- tures filmed in Los Angeles and Chicago, working closely with direc- tor, writer, producer John Hughes, the creative force behind Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), followed by Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) and Uncle Buck (1989). On many of these films, Jeanne was given creative freedom to design imaginative sets, such as ceilings adorned with 33 rpm records. She also painted outdoor murals in Chicago that served as backdrops for Ferris Bueller’s Ferrari escapades.

[Top] Jeanne working with Keith Haring on a music video

[Below] Mural for Pretty in Pink

Despite her commercial success, Jeanne has always maintained a pri- vate art studio, a “room of her own,” where she can follow her own creative muse. She credits her studio space as a safe refuge that helped her maintain her sanity during the fast-paced work pressures of Hollywood film and tele- vision productions and off-Broadway stage productions, as well as finding balance while raising a child. A music video gig prompted the need for her first studio on the West Coast. “Throughout my adult life, I’ve always made sure that I had an art studio. It’s a choice born out of my intense curiosity and need to create. A stu-

[TOP] Mural for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art [BELOW] Painted Mural

dio practice is a relationship I will always nurture.” Her current studio is in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, where the flow of humanity passes by, and a nearby cat petting/animal therapy business thrives. In an open, light-filled space with large worktables, both finished pieces and works in progress hang on white walls, where she can view and rework if needed. Jeanne’s methodology is straightforward. She works on ten-to-twelve pieces at a time, beginning with abstract “energetic color,” using fast-drying paint applied in lay- ers and in a number of ways—brushes, scrapers, sandpaper and rags. She some- times uses her painter’s palette to make vibrant monoprints. More recently, she has been enlarging the collages with UV printing, a digital process using ultraviolet light printed on top of textured panels, with additional gel and paint manipulations. Her favorite color is blue. “But never straight out of the tube,” she says. “I mix it with orange, which is its opposite on the color wheel. This is true of each color I use.” The color combination of purple and green makes her most happy. Some work is a struggle; some just flows. “The struggle—which I have disciplined myself to overcome—persists through the phase when the choices are not evident. Dogged determination is key. A piece is done when it hits a note,” she says. “I can almost hear it when the composition is at peace with itself.

“I admire any person who is courageous enough to make art. It’s daunting, and I

have a very high bar. An artist who makes me swoon is David Hockney. Joni Mitchell is a hero. Her talent—lyrics, music, painting—is enormous. I met her during a shoot for the Rolling Stones 25th Anniversary production where I made the backdrops.” With her art, Jeanne Dentzel dances to her own beat, both figuratively and literally—she has taken dance classes since childhood. “To this day, dance is a big part of my daily routine,” she says. “The musicality of movement informs my painting. I find the rhythm and timing of dance plays into my art practice. It is one of the reasons I don’t listen to music. I hear the internal music, feel the muscle memory and put it on the paper or canvas.” “Throughout my adult life, I’ve always made sure that I had an art studio. It’s a choice born out of my intense curiosity and need to create.”

Jeanne Weber Dentzel is a dancing rainbow of creativity. Enjoy her enigmatic images in this book and see where they lead you.

Leslie Andrea Westbrook September 2025

N o V oice

L ots of N ew I deas

G athering B eauty

W eekend R etreat

H anging on by a S tring

S tay C ool

B lueberry S eason

B ring a H orse to W ater

G uest H ouse

B lueberry S eason

H idden P ool H our

W atch Y our S tep

F ishing for C ompliments

H appy H our M usic

S urfing in P ortugal

S ingle S talk

S almon D inner

S tatic S top S igns

C ast a S pell | M iracles H appen

S ex - ism

T rying T oo H ard

C hoices

S unday M useum V isit

N ew J ob

C an ’ t S top D ancing

M iddle E ast

S ketchy N eighborhood

H oliday F ruit

V alentine ’ s D ay

A ttempting L iftoff

W ild W eekend

R elax by the P ool

R eaching for B alance

M aking P lans

N ews J unkie

W aiting for the W eekend

R escued by a R ich G irl

F eeding the C hildren

D iscovering the D angerous E gg

P ublic B athroom

T ropical S pring B reak

4 th of J uly

T ough D ay at W ork

S nafu

LA F ire

C razy W ind

????????

H ope in the F uture

G et a F acial T oday

OG B arbie

S he S hopped H er H ead O ff

G arden T reasure

C lock V ine

S hy O ffering

H iking in S edona

B illie in S anta B arbara

H air T reatment

I ndependent from the Q ueen

O utside in the R ain

R ecital

L ove and W ar

M eet for C offee

E dge of E xtinction

S kin - D eep

100

R unning through the F ields

F ull M oon SK8

104

G aslighting

105

N ative N orwegian

107

H orse S how

108

S imple T imes on TV

M acho M olé M elt

109

111

D ropping A ngel

112

M akeup for A ll

O n A malfi

C risp A utumn D ays . . . M innesota

W ith a S pecial A cknowledgement for J ames G lisson , C athy H enszey and S teven L opez

Jeanne Dentzel’s roots trace back to Minneapolis, where she earned her BFA from the Minne- apolis College of Art and Design. Her early exhibitions lit up the local art scene, but she set her sights on New York City, eager to immerse herself in the pulse of the global art world. In New York, Jeanne carved out a dynamic niche: painting sets for music videos, operas at Juilliard, and iconic Broadway produc- tions. After joining the United Scenic Artists union, she brought her visionary touch to seven major motion pictures—including several of John Hughes’ classics. As her reputation grew, direc- tors and creatives began com- missioning her for murals and bespoke art. This marked the beginning of Jeanne’s deeply personal journey into her own artistic vision. In her Santa Barbara studio and sanctuary, her work has taken on a new boldness—untamed and intuitive. In this latest chapter, it’s rebellion, ritual and reinven- tion—fused into vibrant, iconic, provocative art.

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